AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

WITH 

REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS 



WAR PEPARTM5.HT. 

SEh 6 913 



*C' ^' 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



WITH 



REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS 



ELIZITR BE ACE HINSDALE 



^ 

m 



NEW YORK 

PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO. 

1901 




Copy z 



COPTUIGHT, 1901, BT 

ELIZUR BRACE HINSDALE 



SEe* ^ 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 7 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

CHAPTER 

I. Boyhood Days 13 

II. School Days 17 

III. Incidents of my Childhood 20 

IV. Life outside of Schools 28 

V. Habits of Reading 32 

VI. Plans of Life Forming 35 

VII. Five Years of Country Practice 40 

VIII. Removal to New York 46 

IX. Public Questions 52 

X. Union League Club 59 

XI. Court of Special Sessions 76 

XII. Reflections 80 



REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS 



Northern Interference with Slavery 

Constitutionality of Conscription 

New Parks 

Land Transfer Reform 

Protective Tariff . 

The Liquor Traffic 

The McKinley Tariff, 1890 

New Orleans Riots (First Report) 



87 
91 
95 
105 
128 
182 
138 
146 



6 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

New Orleans Riots (Second Report) 152 

Governor David B. Hill's Steal of the Senate of the State 

OF New York 163 

Hawaiian Islands 1''9 

Elections of 1893 186 

Municipal Reform 196 

Benjamin Harrison Campaign 208 

Police Legislation 225 

Municipal Legislation 232 

A Proposed Bill on Compulsory Education .... 241 

Report of the Committee on Political Reform . . . 246 

Report of the Committee on Political Reform . . . 248 

Report of the Committee on Political Reform . . . 251 

Report of the Committee on Political Reform . . . 255 

Report of the Committee on Political Reform . . . 259 

Report of the Committee on Political Reform . . . 264 

Address to Hon. William M. Evarts 270 

Paper Prepared for the Union League Club in Memory of 

John Bright 275 

Native Copper in Michigan 278 

Argument Before the Legislature in Favor of an East 

River Bridge 292 

The Real Value of Coin 300 

Opinion in Case of John Most the Anarchist .... 306 

Letters of Judges and Others, 1861 . . ... 315 



INTRODUCTION 

Every book should have an introduction, and for that 
reason I write one for this book. Such productions are 
generally a stately address to the public, giving the scope 
and purpose of their publication. As this book will have 
no reading by the general public and have no scope, I 
need therefore only deal with the purpose of its publica- 
tion. The statement of this might with propriety be 
omitted, except that the original design, which was to issue 
it for strictly family circulation, has been departed from, 
and a few extra copies are to be printed for those personal; 
friends who may take a friendly interest in me. It is with: 
this latter class of readers that I am now trying to talk- 
It is to each of you who may read these lines that I wish; 
to offer a few words of explanation as to how I came tOi 
prepare this volume. 

For the purposes of this work you are taken into the 
private confidences of the family. And now, if I have 
succeeded in establishing the proper relations between you 
and myself, I will tell you all about how I came to prepare 
this volume and the purposes of it. I am emboldened to 
take you thus into my confidence by the hope that it will 
remove from your mind the idea, if it is lurking there, 
that I am conceited enough to think that anything I have 
ever done or written is worthy to be preserved! You will 
see by my statement how an innocent idea can grow and 
strengthen until a prudent man is carried along to a posi- 



8 INTRODUCTION 

tion which he would not have entertained for one moment 
at the outset. 

It happens that at various times in my life I have writ- 
ten articles upon diverse subjects, many of which have 
been printed in pamphlets. Many years ago I promised 
my wife and children that I would look over my papers 
and gather together such as I could find and bind them up 
in a somewhat orderly and permanent form. Had I at- 
tended to this matter at the time, my family would have 
been contented, and I would have been saved much trouble . 
now. Within the past few months I undertook to fulfil 
my long-deferred promise. I found my papers in bad 
condition to bind. The suggestion to print them again was 
made, and to this I assented. Then came the suggestion 
that I preface the papers with an autobiography. Against 
this I protested again and again, and then yielded. What 
a common experience this is for mankind ! How often 
men have been obliged to explain their position just as I 
am now doing, because they have yielded to the influence 
of others ! There are two sides to this reflection. It 
must not be forgotten that the influence of others often 
saves us from many blunders, if not something worse. 
'Having consented to the autobiography, I entered upon 
the work with misgivings and no little protest against the 
propi'iety of it. I have found comfort in the reflection 
that it is not to be read by the public, but by my family and 
by you, my friend. 

This reflection has emboldened me to write many things 
that I would not otherwise have written. What is an 
autobiography, after all ? It is only the story of how one 
grows and what one does from his own standpoint. I 
have put down the story of my life just as I recall it. I 
have endeavored to give my personality in outline in these 



INTRODUCTION 9 

pages as it appears to me. If you read it, remember 
always it was written primarily for my family, and that 
I yielded to the latter when it was suggested that it would 
be well to print a few extra copies for friends. That is 
the way it happens that you are permitted to read the 
uneventful story of my life, put down with the license and 
liberty of the family circle. 

In the preparation of this account of my life, memory 
has given up many incidents long since generally forgot- 
ten. I have found pleasure in recalling them. Such 
incidents have been the experience of thousands of coun- 
try boys. They are trivial and commonplace, yet they left 
their impress upon me. As I recall them I can now 
understand that they helped to form my character, such 
as it is. 

Everything is important to a boy. Character grows in 
a boy by the force and nature of his environments. I 
had no great temptations of an evil nature. I had no 
great trials or deprivations. I just grew with healthy, 
wholesome influences around me, with no luxuries and 
limited opportunities. I was hungry and eager for knowl- 
edge, and by the aid of books acquired such learning as I 
craved, without much guidance and with little assistance. 
I grew mentally as I read, because I enjoyed it. It was 
luxurious freedom from all restraints of rules or tutors, 
investigating much or little of any subject my fancy might 
desire. What would have been the effect upon me of a 
course of regular education, I have often asked myself. 
The question is easier asked than answered. I do not 
know the answer. I simply grew, as I have endeavored 
to show in this autobiography. 

New York, December 4, 1901. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



CHAPTEK I 

BOYHOOD DAYS 

My family was an ancient family, as such things are 
reckoned in this country. I am the seventh lineal de- 
scendant of Eobert Hinsdale, who was one of the founders 
of Dedham, Massachusetts. The ancient records of that 
town show that he was prominent there as early as 1630. 
The family was undoubtedly of French or Lowland origin. 
The name figures extensively in church and state matters 
affecting eastern Continental Europe since about the 
twelfth century, but no trace of the name can be found in 
the British Islands. 

I was born on the fourth day of December, 1831. When 
I got old enough to observe things around me, I found I 
had been ushered into life in a very respectable framed 
farmhouse in the town of Le Koy, Genesee County, State 
of I*Tew York. This town, was situated on the old line of 
turnpikes and highways that formed the stage-coach line 
between Albany and Buffalo. The particular farmhouse 
referred to was two miles west of the then flourishing 
village of Le Roy, Western New York. At a time not 
long before my birth that country had been covered with 
a dense growth of forest trees. The trees were thick, tall, 
and straight, very many of them of respectable size, from 
three to seven feet in diameter. At the time my observa- 
tions began the early settlers had felled patches of those 
noble trees, had built log-houses and log-barns, with an 
occasional framed house like that belonging to my father. 



14 BOYHOOD DAYS 

The soil of the country was of exceptional fertility, and 
yielded rich reward to the labor bestowed upon it. My 
early life was spent in that period of not exactly frontier 
life, but of transition of a partially subdued country to 
that of one of the most beautiful garden spots of the world. 
It was a wonderland of transformation to me, from almost 
primitive wildness to a high state of rural cultivation. I 
imagine that such surroundings to my boy life had great 
influence in forming my character. 

My home was surrounded by a young but vigorous 
orchard of apples, pears, peaches, and plums. On the op- 
posite side of the street, on our nearest neighbor's farm, 
the forest had been cut down, but sturdy stumps covered 
the whole field. In the depressions of the soil pools of 
water would gather in the winter, and, when frozen over, 
furnished me fine skating. All the surrounding country 
had large tracts of virgin timber, in which animals and 
birds and all sorts of creeping things lived and flour- 
ished, as their kind had done for countless ages. These 
forests were a perpetual source of interest and pleasure 
to me in my boyhood days. I was allowed a larger lati- 
tude to roam there than fell to the lot of most boys. When 
I was about three years old I had scarlet fever. I was 
told that my life was despaired of. On my recovery I was 
such a sickly child that every indulgence was given me 
until I was about eight years of age. 

I cannot say that I studied anything. The meaning 
of the word study was hardly knoA^m to me then. I just 
enjoyed everything. The tall and stately trees awed me ; 
the music of the birds charmed me. From the first bud- 
dings of leaves and yvild flowers in the spring to the falling 
of the ripened nuts and withered leaves under the blight- 
ing influence of the autumn's frosts, every stage of the 



BOYHOOD DAYS 15 

mighty panorama was interesting to me. I did not under- 
stand it. I do not think I wanted to understand it. All 
I wanted was to observe and feel it. I learned to know 
the order in which birds return after their winter's wan- 
dering. I observed that certain birds returned to the 
same place to build anew their nests. Their music and 
calls were familiar to me. I never can forget the thrill 
of pleasure it was to me when I first heard the meadow- 
lark, with its burst of music from the ground, start up- 
ward with joy and delight in every note to greet the light 
of the sun just beginning to tinge the eastern sky. It 
was yet so dark I could not see the bird, but the burst of 
music from the ground continued upward and upward 
with thrilKng effect, j^o other bird had yet sounded a 
note. Nature was in that state of awful stillness that 
immediately precedes the awakening of a new day. Let 
no one ever expect to hear this almost divine Nature's 
song unless he is present in still meadow-land before the 
early dawn of a summer's day. Even then it is not often 
that he will hear it. In those days I knew where the 
largest and best wild berries grew ; I knew the wild vines 
that were poisonous, and the nuts and roots that could 
be safely eaten. Wasps' nests and wild honey-bees' nests 
were often attacked by me, when a most interesting con- 
test would ensue between myself and the occupants of 
these nests, in which I regret to state that the spirit of 
truth which pervades this narrative compels me to admit 
that in some instances I came off second best. 

Thus in mv earlv childhood I grew as wild and natural 
as did everything about me. I was a typical country-bom 
boy, greatly interested in the things in sight, knowing 
nothing of the things out of sight. My home was plain, 
but for the place and times there was an air of culture 



16 BOYHOOD DAYS 

and refinement in it. My parents were Connecticut 
people, who brought with them the sterling principles of 
the people of those times. They were devoted to the 
doctrines and teachings of the Presbyterian Church, and, 
as may be inferred, I received constant admonition in the 
principles of religion and morality. Every morning after 
breakfast the family and servants were assembled for the 
reading of a chapter in the Bible and family prayers. I 
can but think that such a practice is of the highest value 
in moulding the character of a child. 

At the age of about eight years my health improved, 
and I became a sturdy and healthy boy. From that time 
to this date I have been strong and vigorous, with only, 
occasional short periods of sickness. I have always be- 
lieved that my early free life laid the foundation for a 
healthy body that enabled me, as my life progressed, to 
perform a great amount of mental work. I do not know 
just when I was first sent to school, but, as near as I can 
recall it, it was at about the age of eight years. 

This was very irksome to me. The longing for the 
woods was intense, and, in spite of all my good resolutions, 
I would run away from school and spend my time witl^ 
the birds and squirrels. It was with a stinging conscious- 
ness of guilt that I would return home, to be admonished 
again and again of the wrong I was doing, and with real 
earnestness and great fervency I would promise not to 
offend again. How true it is that boy nature is only a 
type of mature manhood ! The spirit was willing, but the 
flesh was weak. The attractions of the woods were too 
much for me, and, after a prolonged sufferance and indul- 
gence of my waywardness, paternal duty required the re- 
peated applications of a remedy of which I do not care 
to speak at this time. 



CHAPTER n 



SCHOOL DAYS 



As I have just stated, I was sent to school at about the 
age of eight years. It was a real old-fashioned, typical 
country common district school. The building was just 
across the street from my father's house. It was a square 
stone building, one story high, with one room for all school, 
purposes. The long benches and desks were arranged, 
around the room, each succeeding row slightly raised, 
until the last row was next the wall. In front of the in- 
side row was a low wooden bench, fastened to the straight, 
backs of the inside row of desks. This inside bench was 
for the small children. I recall that the bench waa so 
high my feet could not touch the floor, and the straight 
back was much above my head. The arrangement of the 
desks was such that it left a square space in the middle 
of the room, where all the classes were lined up for reci- 
tations, standing in a line in front of the little children. 
In the middle of the space, in the winter season, was a 
square box stove, that had to be kept at a high tempera- 
ture to warm the room sufficiently for scholars on the back 
seats. The school hours in the morning were from nine 
o'clock until twelve o'clock, and in the afternoon from 
one o'clock until four o'clock, with a short recess each 
forenoon and afternoon. I recall to this day the intense 
weariness of those days. I was called up twice each day 
to recite what was called, a^ lessanr— once in. the forenoon 

2 



18 SCHOOL DAYS 

and once in the afternoon. I had an intense disgust for 
the arrangements and the whole proceeding. I suffered 
it for three years because I had to. In the winter sea- 
son all the older boys attended the school, and we had a 
man teacher. In the summer we had a woman teacher. 
The attendance was less then, and we were more com- 
fortable. In the winter the attendance was often over 
sixty pupils, of all ages and grades, in that one small 
room. No wonder memories of my first two or three 
years of school life are only those of torture and discon- 
tent. However, I did make some progress. The sum- 
mers were much more tolera^ble than the winters. It is 
a pleasure to recall one teacher. Miss Mary Richardson, 
who is still living, who says she taught me my A B C's. 
I do not remember it, but she is, no doubt, correct. I 
must have made some progress in the first three years, for 
I was allowed to sit on the back seats instead of the front 
bench, where I had suffered so much torture. The first 
study that I recollect feeling any interest in was arith- 
metic, when I was eleven years old. It seems to me this 
was the first awakening of my intellectual faculties, or 
perhaps I should say it was the first movement in book 
learning that furnished its own stimulus of pleasure in 
study. Of course I had been taught the rudiments of 
knowledge in the usual fundamental lines. In mathe- 
matics I found a mental pleasure that soon carried me 
along at a rapid rate, regardless of teachers and classes. 

At about the age of twelve years I was a big, strong 
boy, and was withdrawn from school in the summer sea- 
son and put to such work on the farm as was suitable to 
my age, but was continued in school during the winter 
season. At the age of fifteen I had made such progress 
that the district school was of no more service to me, and 



SCHOOL DAYS 19 

I was permitted to walk two miles to the village academy 
for three winters, and that ended all the aid I ever rC' 
ceived from schools and teachers in getting an education. 
The three disconnected terms in the village academy ag-- 
gregated from ten to twelve months of attendance. I do 
not feel that I am greatly indebted to schools and teachers 
for such education as I have. Yet they were of great 
aid in waking up my faculties until they moved of them- 
selves in the irregular lines that I shall detail in another 
chapter. My father was very proud of me, and often 
talked of sending me to Yale College. Visions of this 
possibility dazzled me for a number of years, but financial 
diflSculties, that do not concern this narrative, prevented 
it. The struggle for knowledge had to be made alone, 
with only such fortuitous helps as came in my way. 



CHAPTEK III 

INCIDENTS OF MY CHILDHOOD 

As I have stated before, my home was on the stage 
route between Albany and Buffalo. The passing of the 
old stages each way daily, with their four horses, the 
drivers cracking their long whips to touch up the leaders, 
and sometimes blowing their tin horns, impressed my 
childish mind as the grandest thing in the world. I 
learned by experience that if I stood by the roadside and 
held up ripe apples in my little hands the drivers would 
pull up their grand teams and reach down and take the 
apples from me with great pleasure. I remember one 
driver, named Mike, who was very gracious to me, and 
often asked me to climb up and drive with him, often as 
far as the village, two miles away. The first distinct ambi- 
tion that I recall as formed in my mind was to be a stage 
driver. Mike used to talk with we about it in a kindly 
way. I don't think any resolution in my mind was ever 
more firmly fixed than that was. After the lapse of a few 
years a railroad was built through the town, and the lines 
of what is now the New York Central Eailroad were ex- 
tended to Buffalo, and the stages were withdrawn from 
the route by my father's house. This was a great sorrow 
to me, but I was greatly impressed by the exalted and 
commanding position of a conductor of a train. To hear 
him sing out the familiar " All aboard ! " then wave his 
hand to the engineer as a signal for the train to move from 



INCIDENTS OF MY CHILDHOOD 21 

the Station, and then swing on to the moving train as it 
sped away out of my vision seemed to me a little grander 
than the position of a stage driver. So my ambition took 
up this new fancy, and I dwelt for years on the coming 
time when I should be a railroad conductor. 

A " general training " of my boyhood needs a few 
words of description for those who are not old enough to 
recall those days. All men within certain age limits were 
obliged to belong to a military organization. They were 
organized into companies, and these companies were 
formed into regiments. They were the militia organiza- 
tion of the State. At one time they were undoubtedly 
seriously conducted, and were regarded as an important 
arm of defence for a free people. The long peace since 
the war of 1812 with England had so weakened the gen- 
eral military spirit that at the time of my childhood the 
whole system was a howling farce, and was soon thereafter 
wiped out of existence, and our present system of uni- 
formed militia was substituted for it. The annual general 
training of the regiments was still in existence in my 
boyhood in the autumn of each year. The men were 
assembled in companies, but without uniforms, bearing 
such arms as they possessed, whether a shotgun or a rifle, 
or perhaps the old arm of their revolutionary fathers. 
At the time I speak of, the demoralization w^as such that 
the young men vied with each other in their costumes of 
old hats and queer clothing. The whole proceedings were 
a rollicking outing for a day's sport. The music was dis- 
pensed by a drum and fife band gathered from the towns 
of the county, the members of which probably never 
played together except on these annual musters. The 
band was not uniformed, and was without any apparent 
leader. The drummers pounded away furiously, the prin- 



32 INCIDENTS OF MY CHILDHOOD 

cipal one in the estimation of the small boys being the 
short, portly man with the bass drum. The fifes kept up 
a constant discordant, shrill noise. It was with such mar- 
tial music that the motley crowd, after assembling on the 
village green, marched to the field for drill and training. 

To the small boy this outing was looked forward to 
with great expectations of delight. The grounds were 
surrounded mth all sorts of places of amusements, fake 
sales, and booths for the sale of sweet cider and ginger- 
bread. 

On one of these occasions, in the morning, my father 
8urj)rised me by giving me a silver half-dollar for spend- 
ing money. I had never had so much money before, and 
I walked to the grounds revolving in my mind plans for 
disposing of it. Of course a limited amount of ginger- 
bread and sweet cider was to be purchased, but the balance 
was what bothered me. In walking around the grounds 
my attention was attracted by a glib-tongued auctioneer, 
who was selling what he said was a rare work of art, a 
flaming red picture of the gre^t fire in ISTew York. As 
I iiad heard all about the great fire, I thought such a 
treasure ought to be secured for the family at home. I 
commenced bidding on the picture, and soon reached the 
limit of my capital, when it was knocked down to me at 
fifty cents, the auctioneer declaring that he was giving 
me the treasure. I carried the picture around with me 
all day, and when I got hungry and thirsty had no means 
of gratifying my wants, and went home hungry. When 
I reached there my work of art was severely criticised, 
and I went to bed with a heavy heart. I became satisfied 
that I had been lied to and deceived by that auctioneer. 
I never wanted to look at the picture again. The thought 
that a mature man and an auctioneer would so deceive a 



INCIDENTS OP MY CHILDHOOD 23 

boy sank so deeply into my mind that I have never pur- 
chased a thing at auction since that day. I have never 
felt that I could trust the auctioneer's statements. 

I have often wondered if that act of improvidence was 
not a manifestation of a propensity to improvidence that 
has plagued me to this day. 

My father was an ardent Whig and a believer in that 
great leader Henry Clay. When Clay was nominated for 
the presidency in 1844 against James K. Polk, the Demo- 
cratic nominee, my father was active and earnest in pro- 
moting Clay's canvass. He used to take me to all the 
Whig meetings, although I was only a little over twelve 
years of age. I recall that at one time in this canvass 
a large wagon was fitted up in a gorgeous style to form 
part of a procession to attend a mass meeting to be held 
in a neighboring town. There were ten or twelve horses 
hitched to the wagon, and a small boy was placed on the 
back of each horse to ride to the place of meeting, I 
being one of the number. Our horses were decorated 
with flags and ribbons, and the boys were all furnished 
with gay uniforms. Judging from the applause we re- 
ceived, we must have presented a gay appearance as we 
rode along, our wagon filled with men shouting and waving 
banners. When we arrived at the field, I did not go to 
play with the other boys, but worked my way to the front 
of the open-air meeting to a position just under the edge 
of the platform where the speaking was to take place. 
Boy as I was, I listened with absorbing interest to every 
word said. The principal speaker was K. K. Hall, who 
was later in life appointed a judge in the United States 
Court by President Fillmore. After a severe arraign- 
ment of the Democratic party, he declared that you " could 
take any principles, no matter how bad they might be, 



24 INCIDENTS OF MY CHILDHOOD 

and wrap the American flag around them and label them 
Democratic, and the Democrats would swallow them " — 
not a bad description of the masses of the Democratic 
party of this day. 

The two principal issues in 1844 be ween the Democrats 
and Whigs were the annexation of Texas and the pro- 
tective tariff, although the slavery question was an im- 
portant factor in the canvass, made such by the small 
but aggressive Abolition party. The Democrats favored 
the annexation of Texas, the Whigs opposed the measure. 
I recall that the national flag of the Democrats carried 
down among the stripes a small square patch of blue with 
a single star in it, symbolically representing Texas, called 
the Lone Star State, struggling to get up into the larger 
blue field of the flag, with the stars there representing the 
several States of our Union. At a meeting in my native 
village addressed by James S. Thayer, who was afterwards 
a shining light in the Democratic party, he represented 
the Democratic party as a ship at sea on a dark, tempes- 
tuous night, just ready to founder, with only one lone star 
by which to guide its course. I recall in the same canvass 
a speech of Senator Triunan Smith, of Connecticut, on the 
tariff question. He dwelt upon the effect of the tariff 
on the wool industry, and had various samples of wool to 
exhibit, illustrative of some of the phases of his discussion. 
I have noted the circumstances of these political meetings 
as indicating an early interest in political questions when 
I was less than thirteen years old, and which in mature 
life have engaged much of my attention. 

One day my father told me he wished me to go on 
horseback to a stage tavern about three miles away to get 
a letter. He had an excellent habit of explaining every- 
thing to me, and the reason of this mission was told me. 



INCIDENTS OF MY CHILDHOOD 26 

It seems that after the Revolution, and for some time in 
the early part of the nineteenth century, there was no, or 
a very inadequate, mail service for Central and Western 
New York and for the country farther west. It seems 
that when the friends at the old homes in New England 
wanted to communicate with those who had gone into the 
wilds of Central and Western New York, they had a novel 
custom of sending letters that was almost universally 
adopted. If any one was going to any part of the western 
country it was so important an event that it was the town 
talk. At once everybody wrote letters to his friends 
and gave them to the traveller. He would carry them 
as far as he was going towards the destination of the let- 
ters and place them in a letter-rack found in every stage- 
house of those days. There they would remain until an- 
other traveller — any stranger — would look over the rack 
and select any letters going in the direction of his journey. 
If he was not going as far as the destination of the letters, 
they would be again placed in the rack of the tavern for 
some other stranger to give them another advance towards 
their destination, until finally each letter would reach a 
rack near its destination. I rode proudly to the old stage- 
house to receive this last letter that ever reached my 
father's house in this primitive manner. I remember 
feeling impressed with the importance of the mission. I 
had never been alone on horseback so far from home be- 
fore. I rode up to the wayside inn, and a kindly, portly 
old man in shirt sleeves came to the door and asked me 
what he could do for me. I told him I had been sent by 
my father for a letter. He at once took it out of the rack 
and gave it to me, and I rode home, happy in the success- 
ful ending of the important mission. I did not then know 
that I was taking part in one of the last acts in a quaint 



26 INCIDENTS OF MY CHILDHOOD 

system of letter-carrving that was then just vanishing 
before the progress of our present splendid postal sys- 
tem. The very knowledge of this old system having 
ever existed is being lost. I have never heard or read 
of it except in this instance, and would never have 
known of it except for the personal experience just 
related. 

In November of 1844 the election was held after the 
exciting canvass for the respective candidates of the Whig 
and Democratic parties, Clay and Polk. My father felt 
sure of Clay's election. In those days there were no tele- 
graph lines, and the returns were gathered slowly. No 
news reached us for ten days or two weeks. 

One cold, rainy afternoon, just as darkness was begin- 
ning to settle over the country, a tin horn sounded loud 
and clear to the west of our house. All heads were at 
the doors and windows, and there we saw a horseman rid- 
ing furiously through the mud and rain, horse and rider 
covered with mud, the rider at intervals blowing his horn 
and then calling out with a clear, ringing voice, " Hurrah 
for Polk ! Clay is dead." No other word was spoken by 
him, and soon the sound of the horn and the sickening 
message vanished in the distance as the rider pressed on 
eastward toward the village of Le Roy. We heard no 
more election returns for many days, but when they did 
come by the newspapers they confirmed the wild horse- 
man's message. The railroad had brought some advance 
news to Batavia, ten miles away, and the horseman, no 
doubt an enthusiastic Democrat, took that method to pro- 
claim the same to the country between Batavia and Le 
Koy. My father accepted the strange, weird proclamation 
as a true account of the result of the election; and if a 
sudden death had occurred in the familv there could not 



INCIDENTS OF MY CHILDHOOD 27 

have been more solemn, subdued silence in it, which con- 
tinued for several days. 

It is hard to realize in these modern times, when the 
result of an election held all over this great country is 
practically known by midnight in every hamlet blessed 
with a telegraph office, that only fifty-seven years since 
such limited means of communication existed here. 



CHAPTER IV 



LIFE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOLS 



There was more outside of schools that developed my 
character than there was in the schools. My father was 
a man of fine intellectual capacity and of as good attain- 
ments as could reasonably be expected under the circum- 
stances of his life. He was born in 1783, the year peace 
was declared after the American Revolution. His father 
and four of his brothers had been soldiers in the armies of 
the patriots. Extreme poverty and privation was his por- 
tion in early life. He managed to acquire the rudiments 
of an education. He was a great reader, and kept well 
posted upon the events of the times. He took an active 
part in all matters of religion, education, and politics. All 
these matters were subjects of conversation in the family, 
and my ears were alert to take in all the views expressed. 
The conversations in the family made a deep and lasting 
impression on my mind and made me eager to know more 
of the subjects. I recall his great interest in the inven- 
tion of the electric telegraph. He would read the reports 
of the Patent Office on this invention and discuss the great 
results likely to come from it. If my memory is not at 
fault, a Mr. Evans, of Indiana, was commissioner of pat- 
ents. I remember well when the first message was sent 
from Baltimore to Washington. My father was as much 
elated as if it had been an achievement of his own. This 
was when Polk was nominated for the presidency in 1844. 
I was then a little over twelve years of age. 



LIFE OUTSIDE OP SCHOOLS 89 

When railroads were first constructed the trains ran 
on a thin strap-rail spiked on a longitudinal stringer. I 
recall well when the first " T " rail was talked about. I 
became interested in the shape and form of rails and 
manner of fastening them, and have watched to this day 
the development of the form and character of rails with 
unabated interest. I can recall no circumstance by which 
I can fix the date when the " T " rail began to be talked 
about, but I do recall that when I was a child it was the 
subject of conversation in a company of the best people 
of the town in my father's house. I can recall the names 
and faces of some who were present. I took no part in 
the conversation, and I don't suppose any of the company 
thought of me as appreciating what they were talking 
about, but I did listen with eager interest. I could relate 
many other similar instances, among them the discussions, 
I think, over the renewal of the Woodward patent of the 
machine for planing boards with revolving knives. I had 
never seen the machine, but from descriptions it seemed 
to me a great improvement over the hand jack-plane I 
had seen used. Trivial matters these, but important as 
showing how a child's mind may be impressed by conver- 
sation he hears. The storv of how a child's mind has 
grown is of no value unless he puts down faithfully the 
things he thought about, what he read, and what he did. 

I suppose I was rather a precocious reader on political 
questions. My father's position was such that he was 
flooded with speeches and documents from Washington. 
I doubt whether a speech ever came into the house that I 
did not read with eager interest. I recall the speeches of 
Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Bell of Tennessee, Smith of 
Connecticut, and many others. In his canvass for the presi- 
dency in 1844 Clay had delivered a speech in a town in 



30 LIFE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOLS 

Illinois, the name of which I have forgotten. At the close 
of his speech, in which he had spoken against slavery, a 
Mr. Mendenhall, who was an Abolitionist, asked him why 
he did not emancipate his own slaves. Mr. Clay replied 
in what my elders called a masterly speech, in which he 
showed that it was perfectly consistent for him to oppose 
the extension of slavery and yet, having inherited his 
slaves, and considering their various ages, some very old, 
some young, all unfitted to be then turned out to care for 
themselves, be almost compelled to live in it, and with it, 
for a further time at least. I do not recall that I read 
this speech, but I do recall that my uncle read it aloud, 
and he and my father discussed it with great earnestness. 
In those days I did not discuss political questions; I only 
listened to discussions with eager interest. For many 
years I kept all the great speeches delivered in Congress 
in a box, to be read over and consulted. When I grew to 
manhood it was a trouble to take care of them, and I 
destroyed them, an act of vandalism I have regretted many 
times since. 

I have before spoken of my love for mathematics. It 
was not a love for it; it was a passion. I doubt if any devo- 
tee of novel-reading ever read novels with one-half the 
interest and delight with which I studied mathematics 
without teachers, and with no other stimulus than mental 
delight. As new channels in the science opened before 
me, I purchased the entire list of text-books then in use 
at West Point. It seemed to me that the course at West 
Point was the best guide for me to adopt in that line of 
study. In my school days I had finished trigonometry, 
but I followed up this line of study with unabated zeal at 
home. I was doing a man's work on the farm, although 
not more than fifteen years of age. I pursued my studies 



LIFE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOLS 31 

at night and at all odd times. My father had a veiy com- 
plete establishment for making maple sugar each spring. 
The sap was boiled in a house that was a very comfortable 
place to stay in. There was little to do all day except to 
tend the fire ; and I always used to take my books to the 
woods and spend all day there in study. I recall one day, 
while studying the calculus, on one page encountering a 
few lines of reasoning I could not comprehend. If I as- 
sumed the truth of those few lines I could go on for pages. 
All was clear before those lines were reached, and all was 
clear after that, but the few lines eluded my comprehen- 
sion. I spent nearly the whole day over those few lines. 
At last, about four or five o'clock in the afternoon, I solved 
the difficulty. I closed the book in a high state of nervous 
excitement, and went out of doors, whistled, shouted, 
kicked barrels, and acted generally like a lunatic, all alone 
in the woods. I was wild with delight that I had solved 
the difiicultv. The mental iov was something indescriba- 
ble, and I could not think of looking into my book again 
that day. I had never met anything in mathematics that 
I could not solve alone, and had begun to fear I would 
have to acknowledge defeat. I had considerable reputa- 
tion as a mathematician in that portion of the country, and 
for years it was a common practice for the seminaries and 
higher schools to send me any problems they could not 
solve, or any that they thought would tax my ability, and 
I never saw one I could not work out and return a detailed 
statement of my solution. I have often thought, and still 
think, that the mental discipline derived from this study 
was the principal factor in developing such mental vigor 
as I possess in other lines of study and investigation. 



CHAPTEE V 



HABITS OF KEADINO 



I think the environments of my early life were particu- 
larly fortunate to stimulate in me a desire for reading. 
I lived under the influence of my family and my native 
town. In the village there was a female seminary of na- 
tional reputation. It was in those days known as the 
Ingham Seminary, kept by three sisters of that name. Its 
patrons came from all over the United States. Very many 
young ladies were educated there from the Southern States 
and from New York City and other cities of this country. 
All over this land there are now undoubtedly many mature 
women who were educated there. I had two sisters edu- 
cated there. Many of the girls and teachers were visitors 
at my father's house, and once a year, for many years, the 
faculty and graduating class were entertained at my 
father's house. 

The subject of education was freely discussed before 
me, and my mind was stimulated by the trend of ideas 
that were constantly being presented. 

The effect of such an institution in a town is to attract 
cultivated people there, and I think I am justified in say- 
ing that the village of Le Roy contained many persons of 
considerable cultivation and refinement. I regard the 
subtle, indefinable influence of such surroundings as of 
the greatest value to me in stimulating my energies to 
acquire knowledge. I soon acquired a taste for reading. 



HABITS OF READING 33 

The natural sciences and philosophy were very attractive 
to me. Literature, history, and poetry received a great 
share of my attention. There are few of the English and 
American poets that I did not read. I have noticed a 
change in my tastes as to poetry. As the hard battle of 
life came on at about the age of twenty-five, my love of 
poetry seemed to wane — my mind seems to have hardened, 
80 to speak — so that now, and for many years past, I have 
had no taste for such reading. I only recall poetry as one 
recalls strains of music heard long ago. 

Geology was a very fascinating subject for me. I 
watched with interest the publication of each new book 
as it came out, and read it with absorbing interest. 
Not to mention others, I cannot help referring to the 
great Scotchman, Hugh Miller. I had become so inter- 
ested in his works that I had come to regard him as a 
personal friend. I remember well the shock it was to me 
when I heard of his sad death, just after he finished his 
last great work, but before it had left the printer's hands. 

My habit of reading was always to have a book at hand 
at every spare moment when not at work on the farm or 
asleep. In the field, when ploughing, I would have with 
me a book for reading when the team was resting. I re- 
call on one occasion, when reading an edition of Eng- 
lish translations of Greek literature, I became so excited 
in the subject of my reading that I mounted a stump, 
and, looking around to be sure no human being was in 
sight, I delivered my first stump speech to an imaginary 
audience. 

I am afraid I was not strictly honest with my mother. 

On many occasions she would call to me in my room 

to put out my light, pleading that I would injure my 

health sitting up reading so late, and I would promise her 
8 



34 HABITS OF READING 

to put out my light immediately, and would faithfully do 
so, but when the house was still I would again light up 
and resume reading. 

Very many years ago — ^I.do not know just when, nor 
can I now tell why — I imposed upon myself the rule of 
reading not less than ten pages of substantial reading 
matter each day. This did not include newspapers, maga- 
zines, or novels, nor any reading in my legal profession. 
This amount of substantial reading a day might extend 
to fifty or one hundred and fifty, but a minimum of ten 
I have exacted of myself with rare exceptions to this day. 
That means 3,650 pages each year, and 36,500 in ten 
years, or over 100,000 pages in thirty years. If a person 
was confronted with the undertaking of reading 100,000 
pages he would shrink from it, and yet it is an easy and 
pleasurable task if one has system and persistence. 

In the days of my early manhood, before I was twenty 
years of age, the practice of having courses of lectures 
given by disting-uished lecturers was in high favor. Tlie 
practice does not prevail now as it did fifty years ago. 
Judging by the effect of these lectures upon me, I can but 
think it unfortunate they are almost given up. I recall 
such lecturers as Agassiz, Horace Mann, President Ander- 
son, and many others who interested me mightily. I do 
not think the amount of real knowledge they gave me was 
very great, but they were skilful guides to conduct me to 
the high peaks of knowledge and point out the field to ex- 
plore. Under their inspiring influence I was stimulated 
to press my inquiries into these new fields of knowledge 
80 alluringly presented by them. 



CHAPTEE VI 



PLANS OF LIFE FORMING 



My life up to about tAvcntj years of age was in an ex- 
ceedingly narrow circle. I worked on the farm, doing all 
kinds of hard work nsnal to that calling, but kept per- 
sistently at my books. When I was about fifteen years 
of age the Rev. Dr. Muttoon came to my native village 
as pastor of the Presbyterian church. He was a broad- 
minded, genial man, and soon we became great friends. 
He was fond of fishing and hunting, and we followed the 
streams and roamed the woods of that country many a day 
for fish and game. I believe liis influence upon me was 
fine of the most ini[)ortarit and valuable factors of my 
education. 1 can recall now the manv occasions when, 
alone in the woods and sitting on logs or stumps to rest, 
with our guns leaning against trees, we would discuss some 
new book or some interesting subject until we bad rested 
enough to resume our hunt. Delightful days, full of pre- 
cious memories. Most important days in my mental de- 
velopment as I now estimate them. 

In my early life I never took a long journey to poe <^r 
know anvthiiia- of the world from actual contact with it. 
I was over eigliteen years of age when I took my first ride 
on a railway train. I lived in my narrow circle, and read 
and dreamed of all beyond. Gradually a belief grew in 
my mind that there was something in me that pointed to 
a career other than that of a farmer. Mv fondness for 



36 PLANS OF LIFE FORMING 

mathematics led me to adopt engineering. I purchased 
numerous books on engineering, outside of the line of 
pure mathematics, and studied them with great avidity. 
Finally I applied to a Mr.. Miller, who had been the engi- 
neer in charge of what is now one of the branches of the 
Erie Railroad, to give me employment. This was about 
1852. He engaged me to go with him as assistant to lay 
out a new road in Tennessee. I purchased my first " sole 
leather " trunk and got together my outfit for that expedi- 
tion, full of hope and great expectations from my chosen 
career. My father and a brother-in-law, the latter a law- 
yer and ex-judge, advised against my being an engineer, 
urging a course of law study. I strongly opposed their 
suggestions, for my heart was set upon my chosen calling. 
The times were unpropitious for me. The first financial 
checks were beginning to be felt that finally reached a 
culmination in the great panic of 1857. It was difficult 
to get capital to embark in new enterprises in those days. 
The country was poor and was beginning to feel the first 
symptoms of the great collapse. After weary months of 
waiting I yielded to the importunities of my family and 
went into my brother-in-law's office and began the study of 
law. When I began study it was with the firm resolve 
that I never would practise law, but I felt that a knowl- 
edge of law would aid me in my chosen calling. For four 
years I read law, never for one moment intending to make 
law my profession. During my law course I procured a 
theodolite of moderate completeness and held myself out 
as an engineer and surveyor. I soon became the recog- 
nized surveyor for parts of Genesee and Livingston coun- 
ties. I don't know whether it was my ability or the im- 
posing appearance of my instrument that gained me my 
reputation. The farmers of that country had never seen 



PLANS OF LIFE FORMING 37 

8uch an instrument before, and by its aid I settled all 
boundary claims so effectually that I never heard of a liti- 
gation or review of any case that I surveyed. During the 
five years of my practice of law in Le Roy and for some 
years after I began practice in New York City, when 
home on my summer vacation, I was applied to to settle 
boundary and highway questions in that country. My 
moderate charges for surveying while studying law paid 
all my expenses of living. In May, 1856, in Buffalo, I 
was admitted to practise law. 

It was with commendable pride that I went home to the 
old farmhouse and exhibited my certificate to my father. 
He examined the same with great pleasure. All through 
my law studies I reasoned with myself that I would not 
stop short of being admitted to practise, but that after 
tliat I would turn to my first love, engineering. To have 
stopped short of being admitted as a lawyer would have 
wounded my pride, so I said to myself time and again I 
will not stop short of that goal. After that no more law 
for me. Being admitted, I was brought face to face with 
my resolution never to practise law. What to do now Avas 
the question, and long and earnestly was it debated. The 
financial condition of the country had grown steadily worse 
and worse during all my course of law study. The chances 
for an engagement as an engineer were much more re- 
mote than ever. I could find no chance to work in my 
favorite profession. For about six months, from May to 
the following autumn, I debated with myself and tried to 
find some way to escape from entering upon the practice 
of law. I finally effected a compromise with myself that 
I would enter upon the practice of law, follow it for a few 
years, win some spurs to show tliat I could be a lawyer, 
then leave that profession and take up engineering. I do 



88 PLANS OF LIFE FORMING 

not think I could ever have brought myself to put out a 
sign if I had then believed I was to be a la%vyer all my 
life, and that my favorite profession was never to be fol- 
lowed by me. I remember well the reluctance with which 
I saw the little black sign with gilt letters nailed up, which 
read " E. B. Hinsdale, Attorney-at-Law." It was bright 
and new, and looked well with the signs of other 
lawyers in the building. I was more sorry than glad 
that I had decided as I did, but the die had been 
cast, and I consoled myself with the thought that two or 
three years would bring me to the end of this experiment, 
and then a chance would surely come for me to be an engi- 
neer. Having once entered upon the practice of law, I 
worked with all my energies. I coimnenced business in 
the autumn of 1856. The year of 1857 was the year of 
the great failures all over the country. It naturally threw 
upon lawyers a great deal of business, and there fell to 
my lot about all I could attend to. I was faithful in study- 
ing every question presented. I remember one night, 
when I had an important case to attend to the next day. 
I spent all night in the office. Towards morning I piled 
up law books on the table to rest my head on, and 
later slept on the table. The next day I was prepared 
on my law and won my case. I followed my profes- 
sion five years in my native village, and as I be- 
came more and more involved in business my interest 
in the profession increased until the dream and hope of 
being an engineer faded from my mind. I have often 
wondered whether the reluctant decision to practise law 
was a wise decision or a colossal blunder. I think my case 
is a rare one, where a man has followed a profession for 
life that he was fully resolved never to follow while pro- 
paring for it, and determined to abandon in the first 



PLANS OF LIFE FORMING 39 

few years of its practice. I believe my mathematical 
8tudies have been of the greatest value to me in my legal 
studies and have served me a good purpose. On the 
whole, it has been one of the greatest regrets of my life 
that I did not adhere to the clear trend of my mind. 

It seems to me that in the field of the great material 
advance that has been going on in this country for the 
last forty years, I should have found employment as an 
engineer more congenial to my tastes than I have found 
the legal profession. 



CHAPTEK Vn 

FIVE YEARS OF COUNTRY PRACTICE 

The life of a young country lawyer is one of peculiar 
interest. He is obliged to deal with every imaginable 
question that comes up. There are some, not many, im- 
portant litigations. There are many litigations of minor 
importance as these things are estimated in large cities, 
but these litigations are of great importance in rural com- 
munities. The young lawyer must take part in the poli- 
tics of the country if he hopes to have any standing there. 
All social questions and educational matters must receive 
a share of his attention. If he is so inclined, he finds a 
field for his activity in the religious movements of his 
community. It was my good fortune to be retained on 
one side of nearly all the most important litigations of my 
native town. There were but few such cases in my five 
years of practice, and I had time to study them most ex- 
haustively, and I think I can fairly claim to have been 
thorough in my preparation in each case. I remember a 
feeling that if I studied long enough I ought to bring 
every question of law to a mathematical certainty. My 
mind had been so trained to seek a solution of a question 
that could not be assailed that it seemed to me there must 
be some ultimate certain knowledge down in the depth of 
the law that my mind could safely rest upon as unassail- 
able. At last it dawned upon me that the law is not an 
exact science. The infirmity of language, and the ever- 



FIVE YEARS OF COUNTRY PRACTICB 41 

changing events and circumstances of life and business, 
render it impobsible for the human mind to put in words 
rules specific enough and broad enough to meet all the 
conditions that are constantly arising in this complex life 
of oui*s. It was not easy for me to get my mind out of 
the field of absolute certainty of mathematics into the field 
of only high probability, which is about as far as any 
lawyer can go. The struggle did me good and laid the 
foundation for such success as attended me in after life. 
Among my experiences in the country, I am often 
amused to reflect upon a " horse trade case " before a 
country justice of the peace. It was generally a charge 
of cheating as to age or soundness of the horse. It is not 
easy to account for the widespread interest in such an 
action. The farmers and idlers would always gather in 
great numbers and listen with interest to the progress of 
the suit. Tlie justice of the peace evidently felt that it 
was an important event in his official career. To the 
young lawyer it was to win fame if he succeeded. The 
" horse doctor," who was generally a keen, wary fellow, 
was a witness on each side, and the skill shown by the 
young lawyer in handling him on a cross-examination 
would fix his rank as a lawyer in the estimation of the 
crowd of idlers. These suits would often last all day and 
long into the evening. Feeling would run high, and the 
encounter would long be a subject of conversation and 
criticism. I imagine this State has many lawyers who 
have held high rank in forensic debate or adorned the 
bench with learning and skill, and who can recall the time 
when they first tried their powers as lawj^ers on a country 
" horse case." In fact I have heard the expression that to 
try a " horse case " is an essential part of a lawyer's educa- 
tion in the country. 



42 FIVE YEARS OF COUNTRY PRACTICE 

In 1853 or 1854, while I was a law student, the Repub- 
lican party was organized in Genesee County. I volun- 
teered to canvass two towns of the county for names for 
a call to a mass meeting to be held at Batavia, the county 
seat. I drove from house to house and explained the 
object of the movement. The meeting was held, and was 
addressed by John P. Hale, of l^ew Hampshire. Eeso- 
lutions were passed forming a county committee, and the 
party was launched for that county. I imagine I am 
among the few survivors who took an active part in the 
organization of the Republican party. Many survive who 
joined it when organized. 

I took an active part in the politics of my country. No 
one who did not live through the intensely interesting and 
exciting period from 1850 to 1860 that preceded the rebel- 
lion can realize the universal interest in political ques- 
tions. The feeling that the government was being under- 
mined in the interest of slavery wrought up sentiment to 
a high pitch. All wanted to keep within the Constitution, 
and yet it seemed impossible to beat back the aggressions 
of slavery or meet the subtle argument put forward to 
support the institution. The editor of the local paper in 
my town sometimes would go out of town and leave me 
to edit his paper, and often asked me to write for it when 
he was in town. I have preserved but one of those early 
efforts at newspaper writing. I chanced to find it with 
some old papers a few years ago and kept it. I have 
inserted the article as one of my papers in this volume 
to show the trend of my feelings at that time. It is en- 
titled " iNTorthern Interference with Slavery," published 
in the " Le Roy Gazette," May 27, 1857. 

In 1860 the last great political contest came on between 
the North and South before the clash of arms. Western 



FIVE YEARS OF COUNTRY PRACTICE 43 

New York was intensely in favor of William 11. Seward 
as the caudidate of tlie Republican party. When the news 
reached us that Lincoln had been nominated at Chicago, 
the first feeling was that of intense sorrow and disappoint- 
ment. I was on my way to Buffalo, and had gotten as 
far as Batiivia when the news reached me. I turned my 
face to the window so that passengers should not see my 
tears. I felt that the cause was lost, as I did not think 
that Lincoln could carry the State of Xew York. I found 
that almost all Republicans with whom I talked felt as I 
did. It took some weeks to get over the stunning blow 
to our hopes. Our favorite had been beaten and our great 
cause lost. We had a very high estimate of Mr. Lincoln, 
but doubted his ability to lead his party to success at that 
time and to deal with the great issues then before us. 
After the sorrow and disappointment had worn off, we 
gave Mr. Lincoln a loyal, hearty support. I was made 
chairman of the Genesee County Central Committee and 
took charge of the canvass for that county. I spent prac- 
tically all my time for three months before the election in 
working for tlie success of the ticket. The county gave 
over five hundred more majority for Lincoln than was 
estimated by the State Committee. I was the youngest 
man that had ever held that position in the county, and 
the State Committee, during the canvass and after the 
results, expressed great satisfaction with my work. Be- 
fore the canvass closed we all became most enthusiastic 
supporters of Lincoln. 

In 1859 I was a candidate for county judge of Genesee 
County. In the convention to nominate the candidate I 
was defeated by one vote, and that vote came from my na- 
tive town. The delegate had been elected upon the distinct 
issue of my candidacy. Various explanations were given 



44 FIVE YEARS OF COUNTRY PRACTICE 

at the time for this treachery. The most charitable one 
for me to give now, although I did not hear of it at the 
time, is that he doubted my fitness for the place. It was 
a great disappointment to me. At that time in that county 
a nomination by the Republicans was equivalent to an 
election. I have often speculated as to what would have 
been my career had I been elected a county judge at that 
early age. My present belief is that my defeat was one 
of the fortunate events of my life. I did not know it then, 
but I was gradually coming to the parting of the ways, 
when I should remove to New York City. My professional 
career in my native county was brief, but long enough 
to gain much valuable experience. It was successful as 
county practice goes, but the opportunities were limited, 
as well as the emoluments. I began to think about an- 
other field of endeavor. I vacillated between New York 
and Chicago, and finally, in 1861, determined to try New 
York. 

Before closing the stoi-y of my country life I should 
state that for many years I was secretary of the Young 
Men's Christian Association of Le Roy. This work began 
about the time I began the study of law. 

Among the things we did was to have yearly a most 
excellent course of lectures. I took great interest in this 
course, and corresponded with most of the great lecturers 
of that period. We secured the services of such men as 
Horace Mann, Wendell Phillips, Elihu Burritt, Dr. Lord, 
Mr. Beecher, Dr. Milborn, Dr. Cox, and many others of 
like rank. I was thrown into personal relations with those 
men, and recall to this day the many delightful conversa- 
tions I had with them. Elihu Burritt was a relative of 
the family. His mother was a Hinsdale, cousin of my 
father. 



FIVE YEARS OF COUNTRY PRACTICE 49 

Mr. Burritt was interested in the subject of compen- 
sated emancipation of the slaves. He was engaged in a 
scheme of organizing all over the Northern States soci- 
eties to advocate his doctrines. He desired me to repre- 
sent his views in my part of the State, and I entered into 
his plans with enthusiasm. Events moved too fast for us. 
We cari'ied on a pretty vigorous correspondence for a time ; 
but the war came on, and no one would think of com- 
pensated emancipation then. The institution was to be 
wiped out in blood and combat. How much cheaper and 
better it would have been if calm reason could have pre- 
vailed and the whole nation — North and South — could 
have been brought to see that the institution was doomed 
to go, either peacefully or, as it did in war, at a vastly 
greater cost in money to the whole nation, with the added 
horrors of war and loss of lives ! 



CHAPTER VIII 



REMOVAL TO NEW YOKK 



Having resolved to try mj fortune in the great city 
of New York, I was confronted with the very serious ques- 
tion of how to introduce myself. I could only recall two 
men in the city that I had ever met before, and they were 
merchants in moderate positions who could do little for 
me, even if they were so disposed. I had no money, and 
the means of a livelihood was a matter of immediate im 
portance. Modesty makes me hesitate in disclosing the 
experiment I resorted to, but as this whole story is a con- 
fidential talk with family and friends, I will venture upon 
a full disclosure of my plans. 'No one who has not con- 
fronted the problem of breaking into a learned profession 
in a great city without friends or money can comprehend 
the difficulty of the undertaking. I felt sure of the posi- 
tion I had gained in my profession in five years in tl)e 
seventh and eighth judicial districts of the State of New 
York, which embrace all of Western New York. How 
to avail myself of this vantage ground in the great and 
unknown metropolis was the question that confronted me. 

To speak of myself was intolerable and unavailing. I 
hit upon the expedient of asking each judge and business 
man that I applied to to give me a letter in his own lan- 
guage, such as he felt justified in writing. I refused to 
write a recommendation of mvself for them to sisrn. In 
some instances the judges asked to see what some of their 



REMOVAL TO NEW YORK 47 

brothers had written, and I showed them the letters. The 
result was a very flattering series of letters, copies of which 
are printed herewith. I was very much affected and 
encouraged by my conversations with this noble body of 
judges, all of whom are now dead except Noah Davis, who 
was afterwards so long presiding justice of the General 
Term of the Supreme Court in the city of New York. 
I procured letters of introduction to a number of lawyers 
in New York, and, armed with those papers, in the early 
summer of 18G1 I visited New York to see if I could find 
an opening before closing up my country business. For- 
tune seemed to favor me, for I soon was introduced to Mr. 
John W. Mitchell and his son, who had a very considerable 
amount of business, in which they sadly needed help. 
They were not careful practitioners, and their business 
had fallen into great confusion. I entered into an equal 
partnership with them under the firm name of " Mitchells 
& Hinsdale." I returned to my native town, closed up my 
business, and on September 1st returned to New York and 
began the practice of law. For the first six months I made 
more motions in the Supreme Court to correct errors in 
the practice of my partners that I found in their papers 
than I have ever made in my own practice of nearly forty 
years. I found myself immediately wdth about all the 
business I could attend to, some of the cases of gi-eat im- 
portance and bitterly contested for years. It was upon 
this foundation that my modest career as a lawyer in New 
York City began. I do not propose to say much about my 
experiences in New York as a lawyer; they have not been 
materially different from those of thousands of other law- 
yers. It is probable that I have been more fortunate twice 
in my life than most lawyers. When I began my country 
practice it was in 1856, just before the great financial col- 



48 REMOVAL TO NEW YORK 

lapse of 1857, and I at once drifted into an unusually 
important practice for the country. Again, when I came 
to l^evf York I began as an equal partner in an old firm 
with considerable business. I have never been a clerk 
in a law office, and from the first have had a reasonably 
good Supreme Court practice. I have had very little ex- 
perience in inferior courts, and have never had to resort 
to doubtful expedients to get clients. I have never been 
%vithout considerable important business, and have often 
seen the time when I wanted more. My rank as a lawyer 
must be determined by the brethren of the bench and bar. 
All I can say is I have often been pitted against the ablest 
men of the State in many important litigations. When I 
came to New York I had no idea of being anything but a 
general practitioner. In the spring of 18 G2 a gentleman 
asked me to go to his country place in Flushing to spend 
the night. I had never heard of the place then, but he 
gave me minute directions where to meet him, and I went 
there to spend one night. I liked the place, and subse- 
quently took up my residence there. I have mentioned 
this trivial incident because of its tremendous effect upon 
my whole professional career. Soon after I took up my 
residence in Flushing, I drifted into some railroad litiga- 
tion in which I was against the railroad company. Soon 
thereafter those interested in the railroad employed me. 
One step led to another, the details of which would be un- 
interesting, but in the course of time I became counsel 
for all the railroads on Long Island, a position I held for 
several of the roads first, and finally for them all for 
twenty-five years. 

The greater part of my professional life was spent in 
the service of that company ; in short, I became a corpora- 
tion lawyer without any original plan to be one. I did 



REMOVAL TO NEW YORK 49 

not know a human being on Long Island, and had no plan 
or purpose to link the best part of my life to the interests 
of that island. The seemingly unimportant acceptance of 
an invitation to spend one night with my friend was the 
beginning of the most important part of my professional 
career. How difficult it is to distinguish at the time the 
important events of life from the unimportant ! If I had 
not accepted this invitation to visit, and so drifted as I 
did on to Long Island, I suppose some other event would 
have sent me in some other direction with a vastly different 
result. 

When I first came to the city I was at once put in charge 
of a case that had then been in progress five years. The 
questions involved were the construction of a trust deed 
executed about 1820 and an accounting under it. The 
accounting was in progress when I went into the case. 
The case had been before ex-Chancellor Kent as referee. 
He died, and at the time I refer to it was pending before 
ex-Judge William Mitchell as referee. This case illus- 
trates one of the occasional experiences of a lawyer in 
dealing vnth trust deeds. The litigation lasted for twenty 
years after I got into it. The judges could never agree 
as to the construction of the trust deeds. A success on 
either side either way was sure to be reversed or mate- 
rially modified by a higher court. The successes were 
about equally divided between the two sides. At last the 
case came up for a trial on the merits for the third time. 
The original parties to the action were all dead; others 
had been substituted on each side; the witnesses were 
dead; the lawyers originally in the case, except one, were 
dead. The amount of property was considerable for those 
days. At that stage of the legal game the conclusion was 

reached that it was a proper case for a settlement — a mani- 
4 



50 REMOVAL TO NEW YORK 

festation of wisdom that ought to have appealed to some- 
body in the first instance. 

The most important litigation that I was ever connected 
with was that to establish the right of the Long Island 
Railroad Company to build and operate a railroad along 
Atlantic Avenue for four miles, down into the heart of the 
city of Brooklyn. Actions were brought in the Supreme 
Court, the City Court of Brooklyn, and the United States 
Court to restrain the work of the railroad company. One 
of these actions was brought by the attorney-general of 
the State of J^ew York. The actions were five in number 
and severely contested. The litigation lasted about ten 
years, and in its various aspects came before a great num- 
ber of judges in the three courts, including the judges of 
the Court of Appeals. I had principal charge of the de- 
fence, and never on a motion or trial suffered one defeat. 
The road is operated to-day, and has been for over twenty- 
five years, exactly as I originally advised its construction 
and operation. 

In the summer of 1871 I formed a partnership with 
Edward E. Sprague, then a young lawyer recently gradu- 
ated from the Harvard Law School. This partnership 
lasted for about twenty-two years, under the firm name 
of " Hinsdale & Sprague." I have always regarded this 
partnership as fortunate for me. Mr. Sprague developed 
into a lawyer of fine abilities. During the entire term we 
never had one word of personal differences. I think I can 
truthfully say that our relations were not only agreeable 
in a business way, but there grew up a feeling of real 
affection for each other that abides to this day. When 
the time came that it was best to separate, it seemed like 
a separation in a family. 

When I was a law student there was one older lawyer 



REMOVAL TO NEW YORK 51 

in the office who seemed to take delight in nagging me 
and saying all kinds of mean and critical things about me. 
Those sayings have rankled in my mind to this day, and 
I remember well often going home at night gnashing my 
teeth with anger at some mean fling he had given me. 
I don't think now that he realized how he hurt me. 
It gave me a lesson I have never forgotten, and I resolved 
never to inflict such pain on a young man. I have made 
it a rule with all the young men about me to treat them 
kindly, never to speak harshly of their faults, and the 
result has been that I have had men in my employ for 
terms of ten and fifteen years or longer who have been 
devoted to my interest, and our relations have been most 
kindly. My service has been good, and our relations have 
been most agreeable. 

It is a great pleasure now, in the full maturity of life, 
to recall the long list of faithful men I have had in mv 
service. 



CHAPTER IX 

PUBLIC QUESTIONS 



i 



In the course of my life I have had something to do 
with important public questions. In 18G3, just before 
the draft riots, excitement ran high in Isevf York City. 
The Democratic papers of the " Copperhead stripe " had 
most persistently declared that the conscription law of 
the federal government was unconstitutional. They con- 
stantly proclaimed that it was an illegal act; that the 
government was going to put it through in violation of 
the rights of the citizens. They kept up this clamor until 
the city was on the verge of the terrible riots of 1863. 
Loyal men who had not examined the subject were at their j 
wits' end to answer the claims of the " Copperheads." 
One morning one of the truest and best men I ever knew, 
Frederick A. Potts, touched me on the shoulder and asked 
me to tell him honestly, as a lawyer, if I thought there 
was anything in the claim of the unconstitutionality of the 
conscription law. I told him that I did not think there 
was, but that I would look the matter up. It alarmed mo 
to find that the persistent false claim was being felt bv 
the best men in the loyal party. I at once locked myself 
in my library, and spent the whole day preparing the 
article printed in this volume among my papers entitled 
" Constitutionality of the Conscription." About six o'clock 
that evening I handed it to Mr. England, then one of the 
editors on the New York '' Tribune." The article ap- 






PUBLIC QUESTIONS 53 

peared the next morning (July 22, 1863) as an editorial 
in that paper. The following morning the " World " and 
the " Express " newspapers devoted columns to answering 
the article. 

Some years after the war I became acquainted -with a 
gentleman connected with the " World." I asked him 
if he recalled the controversy. He said he did very well. 
He expressed great surprise when I told him I wrote the 
" Tribune " editorial. He said it took them all by sur- 
prise in the " World " office, and created great excitement 
tliere. They had concluded that the paper must have 
emanated from the State Department at Washington, and 
they had at once sent for an eminent constitutional lawyer 
to prepare their reply to it. Only those who lived through 
those exciting days can realize how high feeling ran. 
From what I heard at the time, I infer the views I pre- 
sented were of great service in strengthening the opinions 
of loyal men and furnishing them with the data for argu- 
ments with the disloyal element. 

Prior to 1883 the subject of new parks in the city of 
!New York had received a great amount of public atten- 
tion. The legislature had authorized the appointment 
of a commission to lay out parks and parkways. Luther 
R. Marsh was chairman of that commission. The com- 
mission had reported to the legislature plans for laying out 
the Van Eensselaer Park, the Bronx Park, the Pelham Bay 
Park, and other smaller parks, with the broad drives be- 
tween them, as those parks and driveways are now located 
in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards of New York 
City. In 1884 the legislature adopted the report of the 
commission, and provided for proceedings to acquire the 
property. At this stage of the proceedings a movement was 
begun to defeat the whole scheme of park improvements. 



54 PUBLIC QUESTIONS 

Articles began to appear in the newspapers asking for a re- 
peal of the whole legislation on that subject. Mr. Grace 
was then major of the city of New York, and he seemed 
to head the opposition. So much sentiment was worked up 
against the measure that a large public meeting was held 
in Cooper Union, under the auspices of the mayor, to de- 
nounce the plan and influence repeal legislation in Albany. 
One of the great arguments used was that the constitu- 
tional debt limit had been reached by the city, and no bonds 
could be issued by the city to pay for the improvements ; 
that if the improvements went on, the whole amount, about 
$10,000,000 it was alleged, would have to be put into the 
annual tax budget. This line of argument was urged to 
alarm taxpayers. Legal opinions were obtained to sus- 
tain this view. At this stage I was called in to examine 
the question. I went to the City Hall and examined 
every ordinance affecting the powers of the Sinking Fund 
Commissioners, procured numerous reports from the comp- 
troller, and prepared the opinion on the status of the city 
debt published herewith, entitled " 'New Parks." Thou- 
sands of copies of this opinion were published and circu- 
lated throughout the city. It seemed to allay public ap- 
prehension in the city, but the opponents of the parks did 
not abate their efforts to secure adverse legislation at Al- 
bany. I was employed to present the views of the friends 
of the parks before the Judiciary Committee of the Senate 
and Assembly. The opponents of the parks were de- 
feated there. The question of the power of the city to 
issue these park bonds was again raised in the courts, and 
was finally put to rest in the Court of Appeals, that court 
adopting substantially my views. I have always regarded 
with a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure my connec- 
tion with the acquisition of these parks at the critical 



PUBLIC QUESTIONS 55 

time when they seemed in danger. No one to-day would 
think for one moment of giving them up, and future 
generations will bless those men who by their foresight 
and persistence secured them forever to the city. I claim 
no credit for myself, except in helping to save them when 
there were powerful influences at work to defeat the grand 
improvement. It is an unusual thing to state for one who 
took an active part in finally saving the parks to the city, 
that I have never visited the parks or seen the driveways 
since they have been acquired and improved by the city. 
I hope some time to make an excursion through them. 

For several years before 1887 the subject of " land 
transfer reform " in the city of IvTew York had received 
the serious consideration of lawyers and real estate men. 
The old system of registration had broken down by reason 
of the large extent of the city and the multitude of trans- 
actions to be recorded and examined. All agreed that a re- 
form was absolutely necessary. Mr. Dwight H. Olmsted, 
a lawyer of eminence, must always have the chief credit 
for working up this reform. It was through him that I 
became interested in the subject. There were two meth- 
ods only under consideration — the details of which it does 
not concern this autobiography to explain — one known as 
the block system, the other as the lot system. Almost 
the entire bar of the city were interested. Mr. Olmsted 
and many others, including myself, advocated the block 
system. The debates and conferences were long and 
earnest over the two systems. Finally the Bar Associa- 
tion appointed a committee of seven, of which I was chair- 
man, to hear arguments and report on the two systems. 
We had many meetings, but could not agree. Five of the 
committee voted in favor of the lot system. Mr. Herbert 
B. Turner and myself agreed upon a minority report in 



56 PUBLIC QUESTIONS 

favor of the block system, and I wrote the report, which 
forms one of my papers, entitled " Land Transfer Ee- 
form." The advocates of the lot system had what they 
called their perfected bill, said to have been chiefly pre- 
pared by Mr. Southmayd, an eminent lawyer of the firm 
of Evai'ts, Southmayd & Choate. The advocates of the 
block system had no complete bill that they approved at 
that time. The Bar Association adopted the majority 
report. The fight was then transferred to the legislature 
at Albany. The friends of the lot system had their bill 
before the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly, and a 
hearing was set down for that bill before our bill was 
prepared. I went to Albany alone to argue the question 
against the lot system. After the argument on the first 
day Judge Greene, one of the committee, I think from 
Orange County, said to me : " Your argument seems to be 
sound, but you have no bill here to represent your views." 
I felt the force of what he said, and promised him I would 
have a bill there at two o'clock the next day. I procured 
a stenogi'apher and went to my hotel room, and before 
midnight had dictated a bill, which was typewritten the 
next morning. At two o'clock the next day I presented 
my bill to the committee, and continued my argument 
against the lot system and in favor of the block system. 
After various arguments before the Judiciary Committee 
in both houses, my bill was passed by the legislature and 
signed by the governor. That ended all legislation on the 
lot system. This bill has been amended in some minor 
details, but the principle stands to-day as the plan upon 
which the vast real estate business of this great city is 
transacted, so far as affected by the working of the Regis- 
try Office is concerned. The main battle was to get the 
block system adopted and to defeat the lot system. I 



PUBLIC QUESTIONS 57 

think the adoption of the lot system would have been a 
colossal blunder. The reasons for this opinion are fully 
stated in my minority report to the Bar Association. As 
I reread it after years have elapsed the reasons stated at 
the time seem to me entirely sound. The present system 
can go on for all time, no matter how large the city may 
grow, and will never be in danger of breaking down by 
reason of the magnitude of the business, as the old system 
did. 

Soon after the assassination of President McKinley the 
notorious anarchist Ilerr Most was arraigned in the Court 
of Special Sessions. I was presiding at the time. It 
was a source of regret to my associates and myself that 
he had been brought before us. We were vaguely impressed 
with the idea that there was no law by which he could be 
convicted. To have him arraigned and dismissed as hav- 
ing committed no offence seemed intolerable. On the 
other hand, to convict him without legal justification would 
not conform to the views of any truly patriotic citizen. 
It fell to my lot to examine the law touching his case. 
The question haunted me for two weeks in all my leisure 
moments, and it was Avith no little difficulty that I finally 
solved the problem to at least my own satisfaction. I 
could find nothing in the law reports that would throw 
even the slightest light upon the question. The public 
views touching the freedom of the press were hazy, and 
may be said to be firmly set against any improper restraint 
upon it. The question was to distinguish between the 
article in Most's paper and the proper freedom of the 
press. I finally worked the problem out to my satisfac- 
tion, and defined the line to be that freedom of the press 
found its limit when the press advocated the commission 
of a crime for the purpose of attaining a political end. 



58 PUBLIC QUESTIONS 

It seems to me that this is a perfectly clear and defensible 
position. The Most case will be heard on appeal very 
soon. I believe that in the opinion that I wrote I blazed 
the way for further legislation, and that in the end the 
State legislatures, and perhaps the federal government, will 
find a clear line for legislation on this extremely important 
subject. If the result of my study and investigation shall 
have attained that end, it will be in accordance with my 
views and reflections while writing that opinion. I give 
this opinion in full in this book, as I regard it a public 
question of the highest importance and entitled to a place 
here. 






CHAPTER X 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 



In 1875 I was elected a member of the Union League 
Club. It was not then the strong organization it has since 
become. After the war was ended many members thought 
the purposes of its organization had been fulfilled and that 
it should disband. Others thought its life should con- 
tinue. When I joined the club its membership was not 
full, and I was elected within a month or two after I had 
been proposed as a member. For several years I took no 
interest in the club except as a social organization. The 
political power for reforms did not attract much of my 
attention. The offices of the club were in the hands of 
older members, and I did not take part in its management. 
After some years I began to take part in the debates at 
the club, and in one or two cases with rather flattering 
success. It was my joining this club that finally led to 
a situation that induced me to write this autobiography. 
The papers I prepared for the club form the major part 
of my papers that I originally agreed to bind together 
for my family. In the year 1886 I was elected a mem- 
ber of the Committee on Political Eeform. 'No hint had 
been given me that I was to be nominated, and the first 
I knew of it was when I saw my name with others posted 
in the official ballot. It was a complete surprise to me. 
I have been continuously on that committee to this date. 
Whitelaw Reid was then chairman of the committee. In 



60 UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

1887 tliere was a great discussion going on over tlie ques- 
tion of the surplus revenue accumulating in the United 
States Treasury. Mr. Cleveland was then President, and 
he, in common with most of the Democrats, advocated a 
reduction of duties on imports. The operation of the 
laws for the collection of domestic taxes, together with 
the import duties, was flooding the treasury with money 
that could not be paid out in the ordinary course of the 
business of the government. This produced such strin- 
gency in the money market as to disturb business interests 
very seriously. To reduce the import duties was in the 
opinion of many to imperil the manufacturing interests of 
the country. The question was: Which stream of in- 
flowing money to the treasury should be stopped, that 
from the internal revenue or that from import duties, or 
should some middle ground be found? The question 
came up before our committee, Mr. Reid in the chair. 
After listening to the various views expressed by the other 
members of the committee, I stated that I did not agree 
with the opinions expressed by any one of them. This 
brought a challenge to me for my views. I hastily went 
over the ground embodied in the report adopted by the 
club in April, 1888. The committee thereupon passed a 
resolution referring it to me to prepare a report for them. 
That evening while walking up Fifth Avenue with Mr. 
Reid he said : " Hinsdale, we have passed a wide-open 
resolution for you. "Now is your chance to put down just 
what you think." The report that I prepared was adopted 
by the committee without changing a word, two members 
dissenting. Mr. Roosevelt, now President of the United 
States, and Mr. Knox, at one time controller of the cur- 
rency, were the dissenting members of the committee. 
On the evening the report was adopted by the committ^^e 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 61 

Mr. Reid was late in coming to the committee meeting, 
and when he did come he stated that he had been dining 
with Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, and he had told hun about 
our proposed action. Mr. Depew was then president of 
the club. Mr. Reid reported that Mr. Depew was very 
much afraid we had gone too far. It was finally arranged 
that I should see Mr. Depew and read the report to him. 
I did so, and after hearing it read he gave it his prompt 
and cordial support. In January, 1888, the report came 
before the club for adoption, I presented the report, en- 
titled " Protective Tariff," and Mr. Roosevelt read a dis- 
senting report. Mr. Joseph H. Choate led the debate in 
opposition. With two such vigorous men as Mr. Roose- 
velt and Mr. Choate in opposition, it may well be believed 
that the debate was hot and lively. Mr. Reid was not 
present, and it fell to my lot to represent the committee. 
The report was defended by some of the ablest men in the 
club. About midnight it was proposed to lay the report 
on the table, with leave to the committee to call it up at 
any subsequent meeting. On behalf of the committee I 
accepted that arrangement. At the April meeting it was 
again called up, with a slight change in the wording of 
the resolutions, and after a sharp debate was passed by a 
large majority. It was manifest that the club was deter- 
mined to put itself on record as in full sympathy with the 
doctrine of protection to American industries. That in 
the end became the pith and point of the whole debate. 
The opposition, while showing free-trade tendencies, 
adroitly argued that the club should not attempt to fore- 
stall the action of the Republican National Convention, 
soon to meet in Chicago to nominate a candidate for Presi- 
dent. The " Tribune " the next day referred to the mat- 
ter editorially as follows : 



6g UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

" The resolutions adopted by the Union League Club 
last night embody the historical principles of our National 
financial policy. The revenue for the General Govern- 
ment should be raised by duties on imports. Domestic 
taxation for the purposes of the General Government 
should be resorted to only in case of need, and discon- 
tinued when the need ceases. The tariff should be regu- 
larly and often revised, to suit the changing conditions of 
trade, and to correct inequalities and injustices which are 
sure to arise; but this revision should be so conducted 
as to protect and promote American industries. Liquor 
should be heavily taxed, and the tax should be imposed 
where the liquor is drunk and its harm is done. The op- 
position to all this at the Union League, proved more noisy 
than numerous. Mr. Joseph H. Choate led it. He took 
care to declare himself a Protectionist, but showed that 
he had yet the alphabet of the tariff question to learn, by 
maintaining that the policy approved in the resolutions 
would drive the Government ^ to raise the duties in our 
present iniquitous tariff still higher, to get revenue enough 
for its ordinary expenses.' He did not seem to know that 
the revenue would be more surely and easily increased by 
lowering duties, and so doubling and trebling importations. 
He concluded by likening some United States Senators, 
whom he supposed by his way of thinking, to angels, and 
by warning his fellow-members that fools only rushed in 
where angels feared to tread. The Club thereupon 
voted Mr. Choate down, and passed the resolutions by 
a majority of three to one. That versatile gentleman 
probably suspects, this morning, that his glib tongue 
ran away with him when it put him in the position 
of calling so great a majoritv of his fellow-members 
fools." 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 63 

The report was widely discussed by the press through- 
out the country. The Democratic papers, with their usual 
sensational horror of the evils of the liquor trafl&c, charged 
upon the Republican party that they were in favor of free 
whiskey, and they kept up this false cry during the entire 
first Harrison canipaigTi. The falsity of the charge did 
not seem to phase them in the slightest degree. How 
such an inference could be drawn from the report it is not 
easy to see at this date. However, " anything for a cam- 
paign cry " seems to be the rule with them. The truth 
of a matter is of no moment. 

In the following July the Republican convention met 
at Chicago and nominated Benjamin Harrison on a most 
pronounced protective tariff platform, and he was elected 
on that issue. A few days after the convention adjourned 
Mr. Choate met me at the club and gave my hand a most 
cordial shake, and said : " You ought to be happy. You 
had your own way in the club, and now again you are 
vindicated in Chicago." 

The influence of the report, whether much or little, 
cannot now be estimated. During the canvass I met two 
delegates to that convention, one from Kansas and the 
other from Nebraska, who told me that the Western dele- 
gates would never have dared to take such high protective 
tariff ground if the Union League Club had not pioneered 
the way. The Western delegates, they said, would have 
been afraid that the importing and commercial inter- 
ests of Xew York City would have been against the 
doctrine. 

Mr. Whitelaw Reid, as chaimian of the committee, in 
his annual report to the club, dated January 10, 1889, 
made the following statement: 

" In January last the Committee presented to the Club 



64 UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

a report concerning the continuance of war taxation for 
twenty years after the war, and the dangers from the con- 
sequent surplus in the Treasury. The resolution accom- 
panying the report was the subject of warm discussion in 
the Club, and was finally laid upon the table to be called 
up again by the Club after due notice. In April it was 
so called up at an unusually full meeting, with modifica- 
tions proposed by the Committee, and after protracted dis- 
cussion, was adopted by a large majority. The opinion 
thus formulated by the Club was practically accepted a 
few months later by the National Republican Convention, 
and incorporated into the platform on which the Presi- 
dential victory of 1888 was won." 

It is fair to state that since the debate of that evening 
at the club both Mr. Eoosevelt and Mr. Choate have in all 
their utterances, so far as I have seen them, been in full 
accord with their party on the question of promoting home 
industries. Perhaps they were not fully understood in 
that debate. There is no fast and unchangeable rule 
about tariff in the mind of sound protectionists. The doc- 
trine is flexible, and tariffs should be changed from time 
to time to meet new conditions. The one unchangeable 
rule is to so adjust tariffs as to promote home industries 
rather than to destroy them. 

When Mr. Harrison was installed as President he ap- 
pointed Mr. Eeid as minister to the republic of France. 
Mr. Reid resigned his chairmanship of the Committee on 
Political Reform of the club in 1889, and I was elected 
chairman in his stead, a position I held until January, 
1895, when I declined a further election which was ten- 
dered me. 

I entered upon the duties of the position with enthu- 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 65 

siasm and prepared a number of reports, some of which 
I shall refer to in this narrative. 

In November, 1889, the club adopted a report that I 
prepared on the subject of licensing the liquor traffic, then 
a burning question. I took strong ground for high license 
of that traffic as the best practicable solution of the ques- 
tion. The legislature of the State subsequently passed 
the present high license law in substantial accord with the 
report. Of this report Mr. Depew in his formal address 
as president of the club said : 

" To the question of the regulation of the liquor traffic 
our Committee on Political Reform gave the closest atten- 
tion and the most thorough examination. Its report was 
(and that became the judgment of the Club, repeatedly 
affirmed) that, under conditions as they existed in the 
State of ISTew York high license is the proper solution of 
the problem. The results gathered from the beneficial 
experiences of other States were collated and presented 
in the most forcible manner, and the argument pressed 
home, that by a proper high license bill once enacted into 
a law this vexed and vexing question might be removed 
from politics and the saloon be no longer the dominant 
factor in our State affairs. The Republican party of that 
year agreed with the position taken by the Union League, 
and it will be in the future one of the most interesting 
studies of the political historian, whether the party having 
received all the damage possible by the statement of its 
principles and platform would not, in the end, have tri- 
umphed in the control of our State if it had had the 
courage to consistently maintain the position then taken." 

In 1890 the McKinley Tariff Bill was under considera- 
tion in Washing-ton, and our committee detennined to 



66 UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

make a report on the subject. I prepared the report, en- 
titled " The McKinley Tariff, 1890." It was printed and 
circulated among the members of the club. While the 
report was being prepared it became known that Mr. 
McKinley was to be in New York. A mutual friend ar- 
ranged that I should have a private interview with him 
to discuss the report, so as to be sure that it was in harmony 
with his views. The interview was had, and we went over j 
the report very carefully. He suggested the insertion of 
two words, and I agreed to his suggestion. I can never 
forget that interview. I was greatly impressed by the 
man. We talked over many subjects for nearly two hours 
alone. itTever after that interview had I a moment's doubt 
as to his great abilities or devotion to the best interests of 
his country. Now after his tragic death I cherish those 
precious moments with him as among my most delightful 
memories. 

On the evening of April 29, 1891, as I entered the club, 
expecting to present the report to the large meeting that 
had assembled, I was handed a written request, signed by 
a large number of the best men in the club, urging me 
not to present the report, fearing it might complicate mat- 
ters in Washington. I was astounded at the request, and, 
as I now think, weakly yielded. I am so constituted that 
I do not yield my convictions to any opponents, however 
numerous or powerful. My resolutions strengthen on 
such opposition. But to have a sudden and unexpected 
slump among my friends instantly makes me begin to 
doubt my own judgment. I did not present the report. 
Every man who signed the request was in full accord with 
the sentiments of the report, but was afraid at that time 
to go upon record. It is unfortunate that there are so 
many really good people in the world who are frightened 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 67 

at a shadow and who do not know that a straightforward 
and aggressive statement of principles is always safe and 
in the long run the winning policy. The report represents 
my views and is entitled to a place among my papers. 

On the 10th of March, 1891, the country was startled 
by the report that a number of Italians who had been 
tried and acquitted by a jury were forcibly taken out of 
the jail by a mob and murdered. It is not necessary to 
detail the circumstances of that crime in this paper. It 
was a new and startling proposition in this country that 
so-called " best citizens " should be engaged in such a piece 
of work. On the 30th of March the club adopted the first 
report that I prepared for the committee, entitled " !N'ew 
Orleans Riots, First Eeport." This report attracted wide 
attention, and was generally approved by the press. 

On the 28th of April a second report was presented that 
I had written for the committee. This report was unani- 
mously adopted by the club. The report attempted to 
deal with the question of improper immigration and im- 
proper naturalization. The manner of its treatment of 
the subject must be judged by those who read the paper. 
!N"o paper ever issued by the club received such wide notice 
or earnest discussion in the press. From the Atlantic to 
the Pacific, from north to south, there was not a leading 
paper that did not publish it in whole or in part, and 
generally with a leading editorial on the subject. The 
editorials were generally highly commendatory, with a few 
discordant notes, the latter generally from the southwest. 
I cannot undertake to put into this narrative the numerous 
editorial notices in this country. The reports also attracted 
the attention of the English press, and I am tempted to 
present some of their notices, as they did not reach Ameri- 
can readers. The first report was cabled to London and 



C8 UNION LEAGUE CLUB " 

published in the "London Times" on April 11, 1891. 
The " Times " prefaced the article with the following 
remarks : 

" The Union League met last night for the purpose of 
considering the lynchings at New Orleans. The members 
of the Union League Club are essentially among the lead- 
ing men of New York in point of wealth, education, con- 
servatism and . patriotic motives, and are Republican in 
politics; and upon those rare occasions when the Club 
declares its sentiments on public questions, it may be said 
to represent the best American opinions. The gathering 
last night was an unusually large one, and the following 
report was read and unanimously adopted." 

Then follows the report. 

" Black and White " of London, under date of April 
16, 1891, said: 

" The United States Government is in no hurry to com- 
ply with the demands of Italy; but it proposes to obtain 
a trustworthy official statement of the nationality of the 
New Orleans victims, with their ' records ' in America and 
in Italy. Meanwhile, there is a growing feeling in the 
country that steps must be taken to prevent America from 
becoming — in a sense different from that in which the 
expression was used by Dr. Johnson — ' the last refuge for 
scoundrels.' There can be no doubt that many of the 
worst elements in European society find their way across 
the Atlantic, and, if the evil is not checked, it may here- 
after be a real danger for the Republic. The opinion of 
all serious Americans on the subject has been powerfully 
expressed in a report adopted by the well-known and influ- 
ential Union League Club." 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 69 

" The Hub " of London, under date of April 13, 1891, 
said: 

" The resolutions of the New York Union League Club 
on the immigration question met with a good deal of sym- 
pathy here. Public opinion is growing up strongly in 
favor of placing the whole question of foreign immigration 
on a totally different basis. England is also becoming 
alaiTned at the importation of pauper foreigners, disorgan- 
izing the labor markets and throwing native workmen out 
of employment. The Union League resolutions will be 
used with much effect in Parliament." 

The second report was discussed by a writer in the 
" Nineteenth Century " of London, under date of May, 
1891. Long quotations from the report were made. Two 
extracts of this paper are given here. The first extract 
was before taking into the article the quotations from the 
report; the second extract was after the %vriter had taken 
into his article the greater part of the report : 

" The report of the Political Reform Union League 
Club of New York on the recent lynching of Italians in 
the State of Louisiana is a document worthy of the great 
American Statesman who did believe that the Decalogue 
and the golden rule must govern politics as well as other 
human relations. The reformei-s deprecate the lynching 
of foreigners who have been tried by jury and acquitted." 

** A remarkable document this we think ; one which 
recommends itself to all justice-loving, fair-dealing minds. 
There is not one word in it to offend Italy, or any other 
nation which hitherto has discharged its surplus popula- 
tion onto the hospitable shores of the United States — tares 
and wheat mixed in unascertainable proportion." 



70 UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

The " Daily Graphic " of London on May 14th con- 
tained a notice of the report, with extracts therefrom. 
The " Morning Advertiser " of London, under date of 
May 15, 1891, had a long article, in which it discussed the 
report in detail, and most favorably. 

At the January meeting of the club in 1893, at the end 
of Chauncey M. Depew's seven years' service as president 
of the club, he made a farewell address, in which he re- 
counted the achievements of the club during his presi- 
dency. Referring to this report he said : 

" The year 1891 is also distinguished for the most ex- 
haustive and vigorous report upon naturalization and im- 
migration which is to be found in the literature of that 
most important and exigent discussion of the day. Then, 
as always, the Union League Club was broadly American 
in its ideas, at the same time that it was generously hos- 
pitable to those who were worthy of our hospitality." 

It is a gratifying reflection that subsequent to this wide 
discussion of the question of undesirable immigration by 
the press. Congress took up the subject and passed the 
present immigration laws — a great improvement on the 
old laws — but they did not go as far as I would desire. 

In the fall elections of the State of New York, after a 
heated contest, the Republicans elected a clear majority 
of the senators, and the Democrats a decisive majority of 
the members of the Assembly. David B. Hill was then 
governor of the State. When it began to appear that 
Governor Hill was plotting to reverse the will of the 
people of the State of New York and change a Republican 
Senate into a Democratic Senate excitement was at fever 
heat. The press had given the events as they came out, 
but the events were so complicated that few men could 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 71 

carry them in their consecutive order and understand just 
how the act was consummated. One day, on my way to 
Albany, I called upon Mr. Depew, then president of the 
club, and the subject of the steal came up. He asked me 
how it was done, and frankly stated that he could not 
understand it in all its parts. After some talk he asked 
me to look it up and make a report on it to the club. I 
was to spend several day^s in Albany, and with this hint 
in mind while I was there I spent all my leisure hours 
in the newspaper offices poring over the files, and with 
the aid of the data thus gathered I put together the story 
of the great crime in the form of a report to the club, 
which was adopted unanimously by the members. I be- 
lieve this was the first consecutive account of the matter 
ever published. It does not concern this narrative to state 
the story over again. The report speaks for itself, and is 
entitled here " Governor David B. Hill's Steal of the Sen- 
ate of the State of Kew York." Governor Hill's cunning 
plans all came to naught. He was " hoist on his own pe- 
tard." The principal actors with him were all punished by 
the courts. Obscurity has been the lot of such of them as 
are living. Governor Hill, notwithstanding his great abil- 
ity, is under a cloud from which it is not probable he will 
ever emerge. It would be a curious and interesting story 
to tell how he lost to his party the State Constitutional 
Convention the following year, and how that convention 
put into the constitution provisions that for twenty years 
would hold in check so unscrupulous a politician as Gover- 
nor Hill. The morning after the club adopted the report 
the " New York Tribune " of March 11, 1892, had the 
following editorial comment on it: 

" The facts set forth in the elaborate report on David B. 
Hill's theft of the Legislature which the Union League 



72 UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

Club adopted last evening are familiar to readers of the 
' Tribune.' The statement of them made bj the Commit- 
tee on Political Kef orm is worthy of careful reading never- 
theless. All the steps in this gigantic crime are described 
with clearness and force, and the authors and perpetrators 
of the great steal are held up to the scorn and reprobation 
which thej deserve. The arch-conspirator was, of course, 
David B. Hill, whom the report handles without gloves. 
The thrust at those Democrats who deprecate Hill's early 
convention trick, while they have nothing to say of his 
high crimes and misdemeanors, is timely and well merited." 

In my annual report, dated January 12, 1893, I again 
pay my respects to Governor Hill. He had then just been 
elected United States senator by the tainted legislature. 
He has never since held a public office. 

I prepared, and the committee reported, several other 
reports for the club, all of which were adopted, except the 
one on the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, which was 
defeated at a meeting slimly attended. It is gratifying 
to reflect that the islands have since been annexed. The 
opponents of the report had too narrow views of the 
progress of events. 

In the winter of 1894 I prepared and submitted to the 
committee of the club a proposed report entitled " Munici- 
pal Reform," which I have included among these papers. 
N'o arguments or entreaties on my part would induce the 
committee to adopt it. They seemed to think it too radical. 
With great reluctance I was compelled to abandon it. I 
thought it at the time, and still think it, one of the best 
papers I ever prepared. I considered seriously the ques- 
tion of submitting it to the club as my minority report, 
but out of deference to the views of my associates I did 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 73 

not do BO. There again I weakly yielded my judgment 
to my associates. Timid good men again defeated me. 
They did not forecast what was to follow as clearly as I 
did. In the following autumn I saw my ideas carried out 
in the canvass that elected Mayor Strong. 

In the following year, 1894, the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of ISTew York State amended the constitution on the 
lines indicated in my proposed report. The course of 
our committee on the Charles Stewart Smith resolution, 
upon which this report was prepared, was a subject of fre- 
quent conversation in the club by leading members. I 
was asked so often why we took the course we did, and I 
as chairman was prodded so much on the subject that 
finally, in the autumn of 1894, I determined to clear my 
skirts of all responsibility in the matter by showing my 
proposed report to a few friends. I first showed it to Mr. 
Appleton, who with my consent sent it to Charles Stewart 
Smith. Mr. Smith returned it with the following note : 

"25 West 47th St., 

" November 16—94. 
" My Dear Appleton — 

" I am very much obliged both to you and Mr. Hins- 
dale for giving me the privilege of reading the report which 
he had intended, if other members of his Committee had 
supported him, to submit to the Club. I am glad to 
know that Mr. Hinsdale had the prophetic vision to see 
what the year had in store, at least to some extent. None 
of us could have anticipated the grand result of the 6th 
of Nov. I am only sorry that the TJ. L. C. did not 
lead in the union movement that dethroned Tammany, 
because it would have been in accordance with its early 



74 UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

traditions and actions. It lost an opportunity whicli that 
old fogy body the Chamber of C. seized. 

" Yours truly, 

" Charles Stewart Smith. 
" Danl. F. Appleton, Esq." 

The proposed report was then sent to the Hon. Joseph 
H. Choate to read. He returned it with the following 
note : 

" 31st Dec., 1894. 
'' My Dear Hinsdale — 

" This is the day to do things we have left undone 
too long. I return your report which I have perused with 
great pleasure. It reads like a prophecy in the light of 
recent events. 

" Tours very truly, 

" Joseph H. Choate. 
" E. B. Hinsdale, Esq. 



ff 



At the time the committee rejected my report I was 
very much hurt and disappointed. It seemed to me a poor 
reward, after so much labor and thought bestowed upon it, 
to have it thrown aside by a body of well-meaning men 
who had no perception of the trend of events at that time. 
During the time of my chairmanship I prepared an ad- 
dress for the club to Hon. "William M. Evarts on the occa- 
sion of a reception given him by the club after his election 
to the United States Senate. On the death of John Bright 
I prepared a paper for the club, in which I tried to give 
expression to the general feelings of that body on that 
occasion. Mr. Bright's course during our Civil War had 
won my highest admiration, and I wa^ glad to be called 



UNION LEAGUE CLUB 75 

upon to render that humble tribute to his memory. The 
club adopted the paper, and caused it to be beautifully 
engrossed in a book and transmitted to his family. Mr, 
Bright's course during the war was in such marked con- 
trast to that of Mr. Gladstone that while the latter was 
disliked and suspected, the former stood on a high pedestal 
in the estimation of all loyal citizens, and they felt that 
they owed him a great debt of gratitude. 



CHAPTER XI 

COURT OF SPECIAL SESSIONS 

In the winter of 1895 the legislature abolished the old 
Court of Special Sessions and created the present court, 
organized on a new and untried basis. There is not an- 
other court like it in the United States. Mayor Strong 
had the power of making the appointment of the justices. 
Great public interest was taken in the expected appoint- 
ments. The press of the city published many articles on 
the subject. I recall two letters, one from ex-Judge Noah 
Davis and one from A. S. Hewitt, former mayor of the 
city, in which each stated that it was the most important 
court in the city of New York, and urged the mayor to 
give the court such justices as would have the confidence 
of the public. At the time, I thought the estimate of these 
gentlemen as to the importance of the court very extrava- 
gant. After an experience of over six years in the court 
my own estimate of the importance of its work for the 
peace and good order of society is greatly advanced. Its 
power is far-reaching, and its jurisdiction is over about 
2,500,000 people. It is practically the court of last resort 
to a greater number of persons who come before it than 
any court in the State. While the right of appeal exists 
it is rarely availed of. In my own experience, while I 
have been presiding during over six years there has been 
but one appeal taken, and the judgment in that case was 
affirmed unanimously by the Appellate Division of the 
Supreme Court and again by the Court of Appeals. 



COURT OF SPECIAL SESSIONS 77 

When the subject of appointments to the court was being 
considered by the public generally, my friend Joseph H. 
Choate casually suggested to me that I be a candidate. I 
did not take kindly to the idea, and put the suggestion 
aside. Later Mr. Elihu Eoot urged me earnestly to take 
the place, and said : " What is the use of getting control of 
the city unless we can induce men like you to take office ? " 
I finally had an interview with Mayor Strong on the sub- 
ject, and told him that if he saw fit to appoint me I would 
accept ; but I said : " No petition shall be circulated with 
my consent asking for the place, nor will I so much as turn 
my finger over to get it." " Well," he replied, " won't 
you at least write me a letter that you will accept the 
appointment if I wish to make it, so that I may have some- 
thing to go on ? " He made me no promise, and I did not 
suggest to him that I wanted one, and I knew nothing 
about what he was thinking of doing unless an inference 
was to be drawn from his asking for a letter. I wrote 
such a letter, and so far as I know that was the only paper 
he had to support him in the nomination of myself for the 
place. For a period of about two months before the ap- 
pointment was made I met him frequently in the club after 
that interview. While we talked in a social and general 
way neither of us ever by any word, hint, or suggestion 
referred to the subject. I never asked anybody to interest 
himself for me in the matter. It was not until the 
appointment was announced to the public that I knew 
anything about it. I cannot deny that I was pleased to 
get the highest place on the list of justices, coming as it 
did without an effort on my part to get the same. The 
court consists of five members, and when I became ac- 
quainted with my associates I found them a body of men 
honest, earnest, competent, and faithful in the discharge 



78 COURT OF SPECIAL SESSIONS 

of their duties. My association with them, and each of 
them, has always been most agreeable. They honored me 
with the position of presiding justice. If I mistake not, 
the court has attained a high place in the estimate of the 
public. There is one feature of a criminal court the ex- 
istence of which I was not aware until I had experience 
of it. The conception I had of a criminal court before I 
went into the Court of Special Sessions was that it was a 
place for harsh judgments only, that somehow it was a 
cruel machine, executing the severe mandates of the crimi- 
nal law without much regard to the benevolent impulses 
of our natures. The field for the exercise of all the bet- 
ter impulses of humanity by the court had not been sus- 
pected by me. My civil practice of a lifetime had led me 
to see rights adjusted withoTit much sentiment. The civil 
courts deal mainly with things, not with human beings 
with souls and sentiments and a life before them. There 
is not much room for sentiment in the question whether 
things properly go to one litigant or another. A person 
in civil courts may think in a particular case that justice 
or injustice has been done, but that is all there is to it in 
that line. Not so in a criminal court. There is not much 
trouble in disposing of old and hardened offenders, but 
when the young, the first offenders, who had theretofore 
led an honest life, are found guilty, then the first question 
that arises is what can be done to save them. What does 
the safety of society require? Prisons are not reforma- 
tories; character is not built up and strengthened there. 
The future of this class of offenders at once presses home 
upon the conscience and judgment of the judge. Kind- 
ness reforms faster than severity. We have found that 
the lesson of trial and conviction has been lesson enough 
to the vast majority of these cases, and the court has exer- 



COURT OF SPECIAL SESSIONS 79 

cised its power to suspend sentence freely, and has prob- 
ably let a greater number of young and first offenders go 
at large under a suspended sentence than has any other 
court in this country. It is probably far within the limit 
to say that we have discharged in this way more than ten 
thousand such convicted persons, nearly all of whom are 
leading correct lives so far as we know. Occasionally we 
get one back, and then he is dealt with severely. We 
have from the first been greatly aided in the work of re- 
forming offenders by Mrs. Foster, known as the " Tombs 
Angel." Her benevolent devotion to the criminal classes 
worthy of help cannot be too highly commended. Mr. 
Willard has for the last two years devoted his services to 
the interest of boys, and has been of great service to the 
court. 

When I went into the court it was with great misgivings 
and doubts as to the wisdom of the step, but I have learned 
to like the work. I do not think I am a very benevolent 
person, but somehow it does warm my heart to steadily 
try to save all I can of the young from growing up to be 
hardened criminals. It seems to me to be a pretty good 
and important work for this city. 



CHAPTER XII 



REFLECTIONS 



The reflections of a man in mature years, in good health 
and spirits, still active in the affairs of life, are very dif- 
ferent from the reflections of a young man of twenty or 
twenty-five years of age. The mature man's thoughts are 
largely in the retrospective. The young man has not much 
field for retrospection, but is peering earnestly into the fu- 
ture to try and see what is before him. He sees all around 
him an active strife. Most of the men seem to have found 
the place for them to work. He looks earnestly and 
anxiously for the rift in the close line of combat into which 
he can enter to do his work. Alas, how long and eagerly 
do many spirited young men look and never see the place 
that they are fitted to fill ! I often think there is no class 
of men more to be pitied than young men, not boys, but 
young men striving to get started in life's great work. If 
the story of their sad thoughts and discouragements could 
be told it would excite the greatest sympathy, but they are 
generally endowed with hope, courage, and endurance. 
They do not murmur or yield, and at last a fair measure 
of success comes to substantially all who are worthy of 
success. I am not among those who believe that in this 
age and country a man can entirely fail if he is worthy 
of success. It will generally be found that the so-called 
failures ought to have failed. It will be discovered that 
they lacked the grit, the perseverance, and character to 



REFLECTIONS 81 

win success. Tlie battle of life is no amateur perform- 
ance; it is real, earnest, and persistent. The measure of 
success is always uncertain, but some respectable measure 
of success is within the reach of all if they strive properly 
for it. 

The mature man of seventy retrospects. The battle of 

life is not before him but behind him — nearly finished. A 

few thoughts of how he will finish the contest may come 

to him, but no such earnest planning and striving to find 

a place to work as the young man has to encounter. If 

he did not find something to do years ago, he never will ; 

too late to think of a new career; no chance to change the 

trend of life; the pace has been set for him; it is a ques- 

I tion of finish now. I have reached the age when I am 

I retrospecting. As memory slowly unwinds the skein of 

j life I see many mistakes, errors, and lost opportunities. 

! The one clear line I see is that as far as light has been 

1 given me to see the right of any question I have allied my- 

• self with that side. I have striven to do my duty with 

j integrity and justice to all. I am an undoubted optimist. 

It seems to me that the world and our country have made 

wonderful advances since my early days. The material 

advances since I can remember are simply indescribable. 

It would be hackneyed for me to try to recount them ; such 

advances are known to all. The intellectual and moral 

condition of the world has advanced. I believe the forces 

for good are more than a match for the forces for evil. 

All evil forces now, if I may use such a metaphor, are 

skulking, fearing all the time a blow from the forces that 

make for righteousness. I believe the most important 

thing now is the education and training of the young — 

mentally, morally, and industrially. The churches, in so 

far as they are teaching, sound . morals and pure religion 
6 



Q% REFLECTIONS 

as the rule of action in life, are doing a grand work. Id 
BO far as they are battling for dogmas, creeds, forms, and 
ceremonies they are doing much hurt. It is pitiful to 
see so many men of giant intellects and integrity of pur- 
pose working and striving for things that ought to be cast 
into the tombs of past scholastic learning as questions of 
no importance in this age. It is hard for me, after a life- 
time of close attention to the subject, to understand how 
modem church organizations, with all that they do and 
teach, have been built up out of the simple story of Christ's 
life and teachings. He stated the whole subject in those 
wonderful words, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
This is the first and great commandment. And the second 
is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
On these two commandments hang all the law and the 
Prophets." I never read these lines or hear them read 
without a renewed effort to comprehend their far-reaching 
and wonderful import. The first is subjective, and defines 
the frame of mind one should carry through life — :that of 
reverent love for his Creator. The effect of this as a re- 
fining influence upon character cannot be estimated. The 
second is both subjective and objective. It softens and 
refines the character of one who tries to live up to its 
requirements. The practice of its precepts by any one 
reaches out in all good works to all within the spheres of 
influence of such a person. The general practice of the 
precept would burn out all crimes, frauds, cruelties, and 
other evils, and universal peace and amity would prevail. 
If in the later years of my life I have been less in- 
clined to regard creeds, dogmas, forms, and ceremonies of 
as much importance as I once did, it is because of this 
passage I have quoted above. It has impressed me with 



REFLECTIONS 83 

the nothingness of all beliefs and creeds in comparison 
with its simple teachings. It appears to me that the frame 
of mind inculcated there is about all any human being can 
attain to. If I am wrong that that covers the whole 
ground, I have high authority for my belief. It is aston- 
ishing how much of fetish and tradition has come down 
to us from unknown past ages, from no one knows where, 
like logs and driftwood on the seashore. They have been 
polished up and worked into our modern civilization. Per- 
haps it is best to have them there for a time in our present 
stage of development. We are more refined about it, but 
we are not far removed from idolatry and the worship of 
sticks and stones. As I understand it, religion and educa- 
tion are to build up character for this world. I have never 
yet met the man who was quite sure of the exact nature 
and environment of our future life. We all hope for a 
higher and better future life, and it seems to me the best 
preparation for that unknown change is to live and act 
the highest type of life attainable in this world, each one 
doing his duty in his station and calling. We seem to be 
placed in this life in a state of mutual dependence one upon 
another, interlocked and affected by those around us in a 
multitude of ways. It is important that each person sees 
to it that his or her influence, be the same much or little, 
is always making for righteousness, justice, purity, integ- 
rity, industry, and all other virtues. 

Education in the broadest sense is the basis of character, 
and all the future hopes of our country depend upon the 
education of our children. Soon all the great affairs of 
this country must be in the hands of those who are now 
only children. I have lived long enough to have seen 
every prominent man in this State who was active in pub- 
lic affairs in my early life, between Buffalo and Montauk, 



84 REFLECTIONS 

swept otf the stage. I have witnessed the great change, 
and in recalling the long list of the dead solemn thoughts 
come to me as I contemplate it in my present retrospection. 
To ray mind the educator, the school teacher, has the most 
important calling in this life. I use the word educator 
in its broadest possible sense, as including all teaching, 
whether by active work in that calling or by influence or 
example. 

I am prone to rumination and reflection. Perhaps it 
13 a bad habit. Perhaps I have put down here already 
too many of the reflections that pass through my mind as 
I sit alone in my library smoking my favorite meerschaum 
pipe. 

New York, December 4, 1901. 



I 



REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS 



NOETHEEN INTEEFEEENCE WITH SLAVEEY 

Appeared in Le Roy Gazette, Wednesday, May 27, 1857 
Official Paper of the County 

The lengthy cominuiiication under the above heading 
we insert at the request of an esteemed friend, for whom 
as a man we entertain profound respect. As a politician 
we entertain an equally profound dissent from his prin- 
ciples. We do not propose a lengthened discussion of the 
whole field of the above articles to show their weakness 
in logic and their falsity in fact. It would take more time 
and space than would be agreeable to ourselves or to our 
readers. We cannot refrain, however, from an expose of 
one or two of their errors, which we think will wholly 
destroy the force of their reasoning. 

" Article No. 2 " labors hard to prove the inferiority of 
the African race. It endeavors to show that the " capacity 
of the negro is low for the arts and sciences." That " in 
morals both social and political his mind is as dark as his 
body." 

By the use of the above language it is admitted that the 
negro has a " mind," that he has some " capacity for the 
arts and sciences," and that he has some " morality." The 
argument is simply this: Because these capabilities are 
" low," therefore it is morally right to make a slave of 
the negro. 

The argument proceeds solely upon inferiority in quan- 
tity, and not difference in quality or kind of mental powers. 



88 NORTHERN INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY 

The right to hold to slavery it is not now pretended rests 
upon color of skin. That ground has been abandoned by 
the South in some of her late shifts. Now, if there is any 
force in the above argument, it must apply to all alike, 
without regard to race or color, whether white or black. 
If such a principle is applicable to a race as a whole, it 
must be applicable to each individual of the race. Under 
such reasoning whoever can show superiority of intel- 
lectual powers can show a patent from the Almighty to 
hold any of his fellows who are below him in capacity as 
his slave. Such new-fangled logic renders phrenology of 
immense importance to the human family. If that sci- 
ence be true, we have only to obtain correct charts of our 
heads to ascertain whether God designed us for slaves or 
for freemen. It is a gross error to suppose that those only 
are equals in natural or j)ersonal rights who are equals in 
mental and moral caj^abilities. This distinction we fear 
is not always made in the argument of this question. 
Equality of personal rights, in a moral point of view, has 
nothing to do with equality of mental powers. The great 
mass of mankind in " capacity " are by no means the peers 
of our Adamses, our Jacksons, our Websers, our Hales, 
and our Sewards. Still their natural and personal rights 
are just as sacred and just as many as the rights of the 
greatest men. It is the glory of our country that the weak 
and the low are protected in their personal rights equally 
with the strong and powerful. The position of our South- 
ern friend is simply that " might makes right." 
. But, further, our esteemed friend's argument proves too 
much for him. If it be true that in a moral point of view 
the right to hold the blacks as slaves rests upon the in- 
feriority of the negroes in " mind " and " capacity," then 
the converse proposition must be true also — that those 



NORTHERN INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY 89 

slaves who do possess minds of good natural powers they 
have no moral right whatever to hold as slaves. This is 
a legitimate conclusion from his position. We have a 
right to ask that those mixed bloods of the South be freed 
from their bondage who possess as good natural powers 
as the great body of the whites. Will our friend, to be 
consistent, advocate the emancipation of this class? 

It will be observed that we do not now examine that 
part of the above article which touches upon the legal right 
to hold slaves. As we said at the outset, we cannot now go 
over the whole field. 

It is a matter of great significance that in this enlight- 
ened age and country so many men can be found ready 
to support and defend that old and hoary crime — slavery. 
Why men will call evil good and good evil, and will put 
darkness for liglit and light for darkness, bitter for sweet 
and sweet for bitter, is to us inexplicable. It is in A^ain 
to appeal to the free thinkers of the North to respect this 
giant wrong because of its antiquity, and equally vain to 
expect them to be awed into silence by its colossal propor- 
tions. There is a law " higher than the Blue Kidges of 
Virginia " to which all human society must submit, willing 
or unwilling. That law is first pure and then peaceable. 
Peace before purity cannot be. 

Our friend is right in saying that oppressed races who 
have attained " preeminence have ever thought and fought 
their own way." Aye, in truth the slaves will think for 
their freedom, and sooner or later, if need be, will fight 
for it. Those insurrections mentioned in " Article ISTo. 1 " 
tell not of Xorthern " emissaries " and " incendiaries," but 
point rather to the working of the slave mind, thinking 
and preparing for the fight. Dreadful will be that eon- 
test when it comes. It will cause deeper emotions than 



90 NORTHERN INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY 

" sincere regrets." There will be lamentations and weep- 
ing. Our Southern friends will then have to fight, not 
!N'orthern " abolitionists," but their own " choice field 
hands," their own " blacksmiths," and their own " mechan- 
ics," whose bodily frames will be well developed for deeds 
of physical prowess. We of the !N'orth would save our 
brethren from so dire a ruin, but they seem determined 
to engulf themselves — for they refuse to let the peo- 
ple go. 



co:n^stitutionality of conscription" 

This cry of the unconstitutionality of the draft is so per- 
sistently made by Copperheads and the rebel sympathizers 
that not unf requently loyal men, and law-abiding men, are 
found almost ready to bend before the clamor and half 
believe there is really something in the objection. We 
do not propose to discuss a constitutional question before 
a mob who are organized for the purposes of resistance, 
nor do we expect to check the cry of a single rebel in this 
city or the country who, with his Jesuitical respect for law, 
clamors continually about the unconstitutionality of the 
draft. Our purpose is to call the attention of our intelli- 
gent readers to the sections of the Constitution which em- 
power Congress to raise armies, and make a few sugges- 
tions so that they may meet this attempt of Copperheads 
to create a public sentiment that the general government 
is going to press through an unconstitutional act. For- 
tunately, on this question there is no nice legal point that 
may require the acumen of the judiciary to determine, as 
in the legal tender question. The power is so plainly 
there that none but a captious man or rebel sympa- 
thizer would ever think of making such an absurd 
objection. 

Section 8 of Article I. of the Constitution is divided into 
seventeen subdivisions. The 11th subdivision provides 
that Congress shall have power " to raise and support 
armies." The 12th subdivision gives power " to provide 
and maintain a navy." 



93 CONSTITUTIONALITY OF CONSCRIPTION 

The 17th subdivision gives Congress power " to make 
all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers." 

No power is given here to the President to raise armies, 
but it is given to Congress. Congress has passed the laws 
that they deem " necessary " according to subdivision 17th. 
Not one word can be found in the Constitution fixing the ; 
number of the men in either the army or the navy nor the 
time of service. That is left to the representatives of the 
people when assembled in Congress. It is asserted that 
this power to raise armies refers only to what is known as 
the " standing army." This is a mere assumption. The 
term " standing army " nowhere appears in the Constitu- 
tion. The standing army is but the creature of Congress, 
created under the above powers. The same Congress may 
make the laws which will create a standing army, a volun- 
teer army, and a drafted army. The words " to raise and 
support armies " are the most sweeping that could by any 
possibility have been chosen, and stand unqualified in their 
bold and naked power. Congress only can give direction 
to this power by making the laws which shall be " neces- 
sary and proper for carrying into execution " such power. 

The 14th subdivision of the same section says that 
Congress shall have power " To provide for the calling 
forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress 
insurrections, and repel invasions." 

There is an additional power, but it in no manner 
abridges the other power above referred to. But this 
section does not say the militia of the States. The word 
or the idea " State " is an interpolation. At that time it 
was expected that the militia would be organized under 
United States laws and would be the militia of the United 
States. 



CONSTITUTIONALITY OF CONSCRIPTION 93 

This is evident from the next, the 15th subdivision, 
which says that Congress shall " Provide for organizing, 
amiing, and disciplining the militia." Congress never has 
done this, but left the militia organizations wholly to the 
States. There would be much more sense in claiming that 
the general government could not call on the " State " 
militia. That having neglected to " provide for organiz- 
ing, arming, and disciplining the militia," there is no or- 
ganized militia for them to call on. The whole drift of 
these provisions is to put the armed power of the land — 
militia included — into the hands of the general govern- 
ment. After the adoption of the Constitution by our 
fathers, they saw that these provisions put all military 
power into the hands of the general government, and im- 
mediately they amended the Constitution so as to enlarge 
the powers of the States, and among the amendments 
they adopted Article IL, as follows : " A well-regulated 
militia being necessary to the security of a free State, 
the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be 
infringed." 

This amendment does not deny to Congress the power to 
raise and maintain armies in any manner they may see 
fit ; it only secured to the States the right to have a " well- 
regulated militia." If the Constitution had provided for 
only a militia force, to be called on by Congress, and had 
declared that the several States should " arm and disci- 
pline " the militia, then this insane cry of the unconstitu- 
tionality of the conscription would have something to stand 
on. Fortunately the Constitution lodged the power to 
raise armies in Congress without prescribing the method, 
and declares that Congress shall make the laws necessary 
to do so. All this talk about the necessity of the general 
government calling on the States for their quota is the 



94 CONSTITUTIONALITY OF CONSCRIPTION 

mere clap-trap of the politicians. That it is not a con- 
venient and proper mode of proceeding we are not arguing 
now. We only say that it is not a necessary way — that 
the Constitution does not require it. 



NEW PARKS 



THE HISTORY AND USES OF THE "SINKING FUND FOR THE 
REDEMPTION OF THE CITY DEBT " 



The New Parhs in the Twenty'third and Twenty-fourth Wards of the 
City of New Yorh and in the Adjacent Territory of Westchester County 

Chapter 522 of the Laws of 1884, adopting the new 
parks, is established law, and has been since June 14, 1884. 

The legislature adopted the report of the commissioners, 
appointed under the Act of 1883, locating and bounding 
these parks. This was done upon the fullest considera- 
tion ; all parties were repeatedly heard, in committee and 
before the governor; all questions now raised (except in 
regard to the constitutional amendment) were fully dis- 
cussed by the press, the commissioners, the mayor, cor- 
poration counsel, land owners, taxpayers, and financiers, 
and thereupon it became a law. This act also devised the 
legal means for their acquisition by proceedings through 
the courts. The plan provided that after an appraisal 
which is now in progress, the lands to be taken should be 
paid for by bonds to be issued by the city of New York, 
at thirty years, at 3 per cent, per annum. 

A question is now raised as to the power of the city to 
issue the necessary bonds by reason of the amendment of 
the constitution which went into effect January 1, 1885, 
which provides that " no county containing a city of over 
one hundred thousand inhabitants, or any such city shall 
be allowed to become indebted for any purpose, or in any 



96 NEW PARKS 

manner to an amount which, including existing indebted- 
ness, shall exceed 10 per centum of the assessed valuation 
of the real estate * * * as it appeared by the last 
assessment," etc. 

(In this discussion of the indebtedness I shall refer to 
millions in round numbers for convenience' sake, omitting 
generally odd amounts.) 

It is conceded that on the last reported valuation the 
constitutional limit would have been reached if the in- 
debtedness was $117,000,000. It is in like manner con- 
ceded that there is outstanding in the hands of creditors 
but $92,000,000 of bonds, and in the hands of the Com- 
missioners of the Sinking Fund uncancelled bonds to the 
amount of $34,000,000, which have been paid with the 
city's money. 

If these last bonds are to be counted as a part of the 
debt of the city, then the city owes $126,000,000— and 
has now a debt of $9,000,000 in excess of the constitutional 
limit. If these uncancelled bonds in the hands of the 
commissioners are not to be taken as a part of the debt, 
then the city may issue at once $25,000,000 more bonds 
before the full limit of 10 per cent, is reached. 

I have examined the city ordinances since the founda- 
tion of the present financial system creating the Board of 
Sinking Fund Commissioners, and all the laws and author- 
ities that I can find, or that have been referred to by the 
supporters of the theory that our debt is $126,000,000, and 
am clearly of the opinion that there is no foundation for 
the claim that the city is in debt, whether in fact, or by 
way of pledge, in any sum exceeding $92,000,000. 

It is due to the importance of this question that I should 
state briefly the reasons that have brought me to this 
conclusion. 



NEW PARKS 97 

To understand the working of any sinking fund it is 
necessary to examine the contracts, resolutions, ordinances, 
or legislative acts, as the case may be, that lie at the foun- 
dation of each particular scheme. There is no general 
rule applicable to all sinking fund schemes alike, except 
the one general rule that the funds in each case must be 
applied in accordance with the contract, resolution, or- 
dinances, or legislative acts governing each individual case. 
A mode of marshalling funds that would be proper in one 
case would not be proper in another ; hence the necessity 
of examining the foundation of the !N^ew York City sinking 
fund scheme. 

On June 8, 1812, the legislature passed the first act, au- 
thorizing a city debt of $900,000. By the ninth section it 
was provided : " That the faith of the said mayor, alder- 
men, and commonalty of the city of New York shall be 
pledged for the final redemption and payment of the stock 
which shall or may be created pursuant to the provisions 
of this Act; and that all and singular the revenues of the 
mayor, aldermen, and commonalty shall be and they are 
hereby appropriated and pledged for the payment of the 
interest which shall become due on the said stock, and 
shall continue so pledged until the final redemption of the 
said stock." 

It will be seen that here is a pledge of the revenues to 
two purposes : first, the payment of the interest ; second, 
the " final redemption " of the stock. 

At that early day the mere pledge of the corporation to 

devote the revenues of the city to the above purposes did 

not satisfy creditors and sustain the credit of the city 

stocks. After a trial of one year, and on the 13th of 

August, 1813, the corporation of Kew York passed the first 

ordinance establishing a Board of Sinking Fund Commis- 
7 



88 NEW PARKS 

sioners and declaring their duties and functions. Tlie 
ordinance recited " that it was highly desirable to establish 
a fund, out of which purchases of the 'New York City's 
stock may be made from time to time, whenever the same 
can be done at par or the true value thereof; whereby 
the said stock will be prevented from depreciating, and 
the redemption of the same will be regularly progressing" 
Therefore it v/as ordained : " That all moneys heretoforq 
received, and hereafter to be received, for commutation of 
quit rents on grants issued prior to the year 1804 ; all quit 
rents arising from such grants as shall not be commuted; 
and all moneys heretofore received and hereafter to be 
received for licenses to pa-svnbrokers and dealers in the 
purchase or sale of second-hand furniture, metals, or 
clothes; for hackney coach licenses, and for street vaults, 
all market fees and market rents; 25 per cent, on 
all sales of real estate belonging to the corporation, and 
hereafter to be sold — and all such other sources of revenue 
or sums of money as the said corporation shall hereafter 
think proper to appropriate for that purpose, shall be and 
hereby are firmly pledged, appropriated, and applied to, 
and shall constitute and form the fund for the purpose 
aforesaid, until ilie redemption of the whole of such stock," 
By the second section, the mayor, recorder, comptroller, 
and treasurer of the citv, with the chairman of the Finance 
Committee for the time being, were constituted a board 
to discharge the trust and duties imposed by the ordinances, 
to be denominated " The Commissioners of the Sinking 
Fund for the Eedemption of the ^ew York City Stock." 
In this ordinance we find the foundation upon which 
the whole structure of the present financial system of Nqvj 
York stands to-day. It contemplates, first, securing to 
the creditors that the pledged revenues shall go to a 






NEW PARKS 99 

" board " to discharge the trust; second, it designates the 
twofold character of the trust — viz., to pay the interest 
as it accrues, and to purchase stock from " time to time " 
so that "the redemption of the same will be reguJarhj 
progressing. '^ 

Other ordinances and laws have since been passed, but 
none that change the scheme or plan here laid down. 
Purchases of stocks or bonds of the city are not invest- 
ments of the funds of the city, but are an application of 
those funds to the " regular " and " progressive " redemp- 
tion of the city's debt. A city bond once in the hands of 
the Sinking Fund Commissioners is from that moment a 
redeemed bond, redeemed with the city's revenues pledged 
for that purpose, and placed in the comnaissioners' hands 
to be so applied. 

Various other loans were authorized between 1812 and 
1844, all upon the same plan as the loan of 1812, pledging 
the same revenues, and other revenues, but in each case 
preserving the priority of lien of the respective loans. 
The principal debt authorized during that time was the 
Croton water loan of J 834 for $2,500,000. The demands 
upon the sinking fund increased from time to time as the 
debt of the city increased, and to meet such demands other 
pledges of revenue were made to the sinking fund. Among 
the methods adopted to increase the " sinking fund " was 
a pledge of the interest on the redeemed bonds held by 
them. The system of pledging interest to accrue on the 
redeemed bonds took form in the following ordinance : 

" The city stock which shall be purchased by the com- 
missioners shall not be cancelled by them until the final 
redemption of the said stock, and all interest accruing 
thereon shall be regularly carried to the said sinking fund, 
for the city debt." (Ordinance of 1850, Chap. 9, § 12.) 



100 NEW PARKS 

It will be observed that the lyrincipal of these redeemed 
bonds is not pledged for anj purpose whatever. They 
are left uncancelled so that the accruing interest may 
form the measure of an additional stream of revenue to 
the fund for the " redemption of the city debt." There 
is no suggestion of a pledge of the principal of these 
redeemed bonds for any purpose. Although redeemed 
and paid, they are to remain uncancelled, so that the ac- 
cruing interest may measure a fimd to be applied to the 
redemption of other bonds. 

The suggestion that " they shall not be cancelled " 
sliows the utter worthlessness of the bonds after their 
redemption. If they had any value, it is strange that the 
Common Council should have felt called wpon to pass a 
solemn ordinance forbidding the cancellation of good secu- 
rities that were held in pledge. As well pass an ordinance 
directing the commissioners not to burn bank bills belong- 
ing to the city. They are only held uncancelled by virtue 
of the ordinance. 

The argument that as soon as a city bond passes into 
the hands of the Sinking Fund Commissioners it is ipso 
facto from that moment redeemed, is further confirmed 
v/hen we consider that as far back as 1844 the revenues 
of the sinking fund were divided into two parts : one part 
was devoted to the payment of the interest, and the other 
to the redemption of the city debt. This division is kept 
up to the present day. Two accounts are kept by the 
comptroller; one entitled " revenues of the sinking fund 
for the redemption of the city debt." The revenues in 
this account from twenty-five different sources, reported in 
1883, were over $7,000,000. The other account is en- 
titled " revenues of the sinking fund for the payment 
of interest on the city debt." The revenue in this account 



NEW PARKS 101 

was in 1883 derived from eleven sources and amounted 
to over $2,436,000. 

The revenues for the redemption of the city debt are 
increasing at the rate of more than $500,000 per annum, 
so that if past experience is a guide we shall soon have 
a redemption fund of $10,000,000 each year. 

Can it be contended that a debt is any the less redeemed 
and paid because paid out of the cash revenues of the city 
in advance of the due day printed on the bonds ? 

Some very absurd conclusions result from holding that 
a bond paid for out of the revenues of the city devoted 
to the redemption of the city debt is not redeemed, but 
is still a debt of the city. The holders of this theory tell us 
that the net debt is $92,000,000, but the real debt within 
the meaning of the constitution is $126,000,000, because 
the Sinking Fund Commissioners hold $34,000,000 of 
uncancelled bonds. Very well, suppose the city collects 
in a day $92,000,000, and pays all the bonds not in 
the hands of the Sinking Fund Commissioners. Will 
the city then owe $34,000,000, when no human being 
can for any purpose whatever collect one cent of the 
$34,000,000 ? How, then, can the city be in debt vnthin 
the meaning of the constitution $126,000,000 and yet be 
able to get out of debt by paying $92,000,000 ? But, again, 
suppose the Sinking Fund Commissioners within the next 
ten years, with its magnificent revenues, are able to in- 
crease their holding of uncancelled bonds, so as to absorb 
all the bonds, and they shall be able to show in possession 
$126,000,000, instead of $34,000,000 as at present, and 
suppose there are no other bonds outstanding, will the 
city be in this anomalous position, that it will not owe a 
bond to any creditor, and yet by reason of these redeemed 
bonds being uncancelled in the commissioners' hands, still 



102 NEW PARKS 

be in debt $126,000,000 withiu the intent of the consti- 
tution ? 

The fallacy in the reasoning of those who contend that 
the city debt is $120,000,000 consists in calling the re- 
deemed but uncancelled bonds in the hands of the Sinking 
Fund Commissioners " assets " or " investments." They 
are neither the one nor the other. They were simply in 
the hands of the commissioners evidence that the annual 
resources of the city devoted to the " redemption of the 
city debt " have been so applied by the commissioners, 
and that in the language of the old ordinance of 1813, 
creating the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners, the 
" redemption of the same will be (has been) regularly 
progressing." 

When the day arrives for these uncancelled bonds, by 
their terms, to fall due, they expire, by their own limita- 
tions, without the payment of another dollar. Then, ac- 
cording to the theory, $34,000,000 of indebtedness is 
wiped out without payment. 

The argument that has been advanced, that because in 
one contingency these bonds may be reissued by the com- 
missioners, that therefore they are not to be considered 
as redeemed bonds in the commissioners' hands, is not 
sound. There is only one contingency in which they may 
be reissued, but they can never be reissued so as to again 
add to the volume of the debt. To illustrate, if there is 
presently due, say $10,000,000 of bonds, and the revenues 
of the commissioners are not sufficient to pay the $10,- 
000,000, the commissioners can undoubtedly reissue from 
their redeemed bonds that have a long time to run a suf- 
ficient amount to enable them to take up the earlier matur- 
ing bonds, which, when tahen up, are cancelled. By this 
process no increase is made to the debt, but the day of 



NEW PARKS 103 

payment is postponed. The debt is the same in amount 
as it was before the reissue. The particular piece of 
paper called a bond changes its character under such cir- 
cumstances from a redeemed bond to a lawfully issued 
bond by a new contract, and then represents a liability of 
the city. 

This is a valueless power in the hands of the commis- 
sioners, because the cash revenues of the sinking fund 
applicable to the redemption of the city debt for the next 
twenty-five years will exceed the amount of bonds that 
will mature each year during that time. 

Although not strictly germane to the legal argument, 
I cannot refrain from expressing my astonishment at the 
soundness of the finances of the city after a somewhat care- 
ful examination of several reports of the comptroller made 
from time to time. The net debt of the city in 1876 was 
$115,000,000, the largest sum it ever reached. At the 
present time it is about $92,000,000, showing a reduction 
of about $23,000,000. Formerly the city paid 6 and 
7 per cent, interest; now the rate is being gradually re- 
duced to 3^ or 4 per cent., as bonds bearing a high rate 
of interest fall due. On the other hand, the assessed 
valuation in the city for five years has increased at an 
average rate of over $46,000,000 a year. Since 1876, 
when the debt was the highest, the taxable values of real 
estate have increased $282,529,720. The revenues of 
the sinking fund applicable to the redemption of the 
public debt have risen since 1880 from $4,951,237.04 to 
$7,355,064.17 in 1884. With such a financial showing 
there is no reason why the city should not secure to itself 
such needed advantages as its future growth will require. 

The attempt, by alarming the taxpayers, to defeat or 
repeal the New Parks Act, on the ground of want of ability 



104 NEW PARKS 

in the city to pay for them by its bonds, falls to the 
ground. 

The city will never again be greatly overburdened with 
debt by its needed improvements. Its financial condition 
is so sound that its only danger can arise from corruption, 
jobbery, and extravagance in the administration of its af- 
fairs. The people will always do well to watch the admin- 
istration of the affairs of the city, but need feel no alarm 
at the progress of needed improvements, so long as they are 
going forward honestly and economically, as the like im- 
provements would go forward in the hands of a private 
citizen. The mayor who will give us such a business 
administration would earn a lasting fame and endear him- 
self to the people. 



LA'N'D TRANSFEE REFORM 

The undersigned, members of the Committee of the Bar 
Association aj^jDointed on the 11th day of January, 1887, 
to examine into the whole subject of proposed reform of 
land transfers, are unable to agree with the report made 
by the majority of this committee in favor of the so-called 
lot plan. As stated in the majority report, the committee 
are unanimous that the block system would be a great 
improvement uj)on the present system of land registry in 
this city, and would obviate the chief difficulties that now 
interfere with the easy and rapid transfer of real estate. 
The committee divide upon the question as to which of 
these two modes would be the more practicable and easily 
administered and understood by the public. For the pur- 
pose of showing the grounds for the dissent of the under- 
signed from the report of the majority, an examination 
of some of the provisions of the bill now pending before 
the legislature and called the " Lot System Bill " should 
be had. 

In the lot system, it should be borne in mind, two things 
must concur to make a record of a transfer of real estate. 
The making and recording of a deed have no effect under 
that system of giving notice, but, on the contrary, a deed 
left in that position alone has only the effect of an unre- 
corded deed. We turn, therefore, to the bill to ascertain 
what it is that is to give vitality and force to this usual act 
of recording. By Section 6, the deed, mortgage, or other 
instrument to be recorded is called the "chief instrument." 



106 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

There is to be affixed thereto another instrument, which is 
to be in writing, subscribed bj one or more of the parties 
to the chief instrument, or his or their agent or attorney, 
duly acknowledged or proved, specifying the lot nmnber 
which is intended to be conveyed. The purpose of this 
secondary instrument is to specify the particular lot upon 
which the chief instrument is to take effect by way of con- 
veyance or lien. It must be remembered, therefore, in 
the discussion of this bill, that at all times, to effect legal 
notice of any transaction in real estate, two instruments 
are to be prepared: the first of no validity whatever for 
purposes of notice, the second one to give validity to the 
first instrument as notice. It becomes, therefore, of vital 
importance that the second instrument shall designate with 
absolute certainty the lot upon which the chief instrument 
is to take effect. And here comes one of the great diffi- 
culties of the lot system. Confessedly, there are no cor- 
rect maps of the lots in the city of ISTew York. It would 
be a formidable undertaking to make a survey of every 
lot; moreover, it is not easy to see how any act could be 
framed authorizing any surveyor or body of surveyors to 
survey and fix the boundaries of the lots so as to bind all 
parties in interest. To meet this difficulty, the scheme of 
lot transfer recurs to what are known as the tax maps of 
the city of IsTew York, and provides that two duplicates 
of those tax maps shall be transmitted to the Register's 
Office for the purpose of serving as maps of approxhnate 
accuracy on which to designate lands conveyed or encum- 
bered by the chief instrument. One of these maps is to 
be devoted to conveyances, the other to mortgages, in the 
Register's Office. The vital point of notice, therefore, 
turns upon the accuracy of these maps. As they are con- 
fessedly unreliable, the bill provides that when the second 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 107 

instrument is filed with the chief instrument it may desig- 
nate as many lots as the party may elect to designate, so 
as to he sure that his designation shall certainly embrace 
all the land within the metes and bounds of the chief in- 
strmnent. If, however, in the opinion of the conveyancer, 
the lot described on the tax map shall coincide exactly with 
the metes and bounds or description in the chief instru- 
ment, he may then designate but that one lot; so that 
this system in its perfection v.-ill exist only in case of a 
perfect coincidence of lot with the description in the 
deed. 

It would seem as if a person wlio had succeeded in get- 
ting once such a perfect record need never again have 
further trouble in the Kegister's Office touching the record 
of his title. An examination of the bill, however, shows 
that these maps, imperfect as they are, are subject to con- 
stant and curious changes. Section 4 provides that when- 
ever the location or dimension of any lot on the tax maps 
shall vary materially from the location or dimension of 
such lot as actually in possession and enclosed by 
walls and fences, or a wall and fence, and such pos- 
session shall have existed for tAvo years preceding the 
application; the owner of such lot may apply to the 
Tax Commissioners to correct the tax maps. His appli- 
cation must be based on an affidavit and survey of a 
city surveyor. Upon such application it becomes the duty 
of the Tax Commissioners to examine the matter, and, if 
they see fit, they may cause notice to be given to the adja- 
cent owner, and the Tax Commissioners shall, in their dis- 
cretion, make a change in the maps, so as to conform to 
what they believe to be the actual possession and enclosure, 
and make proper corrections on the tax maps. Thus it 
will be seen that an owner who has once got, by the con- 



108 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

junction of a perfect tax lot with his description in the 
deed, a perfect record title for his land, is liable to be 
summoned to the Tax Commissioners' Office to defend, not 
his title, but that which is of almost equal importance, the 
record of his title. He may not only be summoned there 
once, but he may be summoned for this purpose by every 
adjoining owner. We think it would be a startling propo- 
sition to the holders of real estate in this city to know 
that, in subsequent years, after they had secured a perfect 
record title, at any time, at the instance of any adjoining 
owner, and of as many adjoining owners as they have, 
they must appear at the Tax Office to see to it that no 
changes shall be made in the map in the Tax Office which 
shall imperil the record of their title. 

But there is a further difficulty about this notice to 
owners to appear before the Tax Commissioners whenever 
a change is to be made in a map. How is this notice to be 
given ? Presumably by mail. But suppose that the owner 
is out of town, and, perhaps, spending his summer vacation 
in Europe. If he fail to appear or to have somebody repre- 
sent him the adjoining owner may effect such changes in 
the map as he can induce the Tax Commissioners to make. 
Thus it would seem that no owner of real estate can be 
absent from the city for any considerable length of time 
without designating some agent who shall stand guard over 
the record of his title. But in all cases, whether the owner 
is in the city or absent, it makes him trouble to go per- 
sonally to the Tax Office, or it makes him expense to 
employ an attorney or agent to go there. What would be 
the amount of this trouble or expense that would be put 
upon a land owner we will not venture to conjecture. It 
is enough that the scheme of the bill provides for some 
trouble and some expense to be incurred by every land 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 109 

owner, even after he has once secured a perfect record 
title. 

The loose and careless manner in which this bill was 
drawn on this point was so apparent to the Conunittee of 
Seven that they were unanimously of the opinion that, if 
the bill were to pass, it should be amended in two particu- 
lars. First, that the option given to the Tax Commis- 
sioners to notify the adjoining owner to appear should be 
taken away from them, and that that duty should be made 
mandatory upon them. Secondly, that the Tax Commis- 
sioners should preserve a written record of any change 
made by them, by an entry, fixing the date and time of 
such change. That was the best result that the Com- 
mittee of Seven could arrive at. If the bill be treated as 
amended as recommended by the Committee of Seven, the 
difficulty is not overcome. It still remains true that the 
land owner is subject from time to time to be summoned to 
appear at the Tax Commissioners' Office, tiither in person 
or by attorney. He may then protest against the change 
as being adverse to his interest, but the change may, never- 
theless, take place, and the record of the change shall be 
by such marks and in such words as the Tax Commission- 
ers may see fit to put down ; and these may not be satis- 
factory to the land owner as in his judgment serving as a 
sufficiently careful record of the change then made. 

Thus it will be seen that a person may start with a per- 
fect record and yet be called upon from time to time to 
preserve that record from change; and he may be com- 
pelled to witness such changes in the record as will be 
entirely unsatisfactory to him and leave him in difficulty 
at some future time to prove what was the exact condition 
of the map at the time he recorded his deed. In this city, 
where a foot of ground, or a few inches even, are of vast 



110 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

importance, we should hesitate long before adopting snch 
a system, unless there be some overmastering reason why 
it should be adopted. 

Recurring again to the princijDle that a perfect record 
only occurs when there is absolute coincidence of descrip- 
tion in the chief instrument with the designation of land 
on the map, it is interesting to see how this scheme pro- 
vides for changes and almost mutilation of maps, and also 
provides innumerable chances for mistakes. If the maps, 
through incompetence, carelessness, or neglect of the per- 
sons having charge of them, be not kept and changed with 
absolute perfection, the system falls into confusion. By 
the first section of the bill it is provided that when new 
lots are formed out of previously existing plots or lots, 
entries shall be made thereon — (which we suppose means 
on the map) — ^but it provides that such entries shall be 
made in " different colored ink, or by a diagram or other- 
wise." 

As a specimen of loose description of the duties of an 
officer, we think this would stand out without parallel, if 
it once should appear on the statute books. It is notorious 
that inks change in color by time; therefore, so far as dif- 
ferent colored inks are to play a part in the record of a 
land title, the pro^dsion is valueless. What the framei^s 
intended by providing first as to ink, then as to diagram, 
and then adding " or otherwise " — that is, that the change 
may be made otherwise than by ink or diagram — we do not 
know. It certainly would be " otherwise " to use an 
eraser, and, except for an amendment which is recom- 
mended by the Committee of Seven, we fail to see why it 
is not fairly within the provisions of this section of the bill 
that an eraser might be used. 

The framers of the bill evidently contemplate that a 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 111 

map may become so marked up and mutilated as to be 
unfit for further use, for they have provided in the same 
section that when, in the judgment of the superintendent 
of the Land Register, alterations and changes have been 
made so as to render it (the map) unsuitable and incon- 
venient to continue longer in practical use for reference, 
a new map may be made in place and stead of the old map, 
showing the several lots contained therein, with their loca- 
tion, dimension, and numbering at the time being, which 
is to be substituted for the old map. Here is a fine chance 
for mistakes and errors to be committed. To guard against 
this, the bill provides that the old map shall be preserved, 
to be referred to in case of need. We submit that, as the 
maps play so imj^ortant a part in the record of title, such 
a substitution of a new one for an old one, made at the 
instance of the superintendent of the Land Eegister, per- 
haps by an incompetent person, is, to say the least, an 
unsatisfactory method of preserving record title. 

It will be observed that, by the fourth section of the bill, 
changes are to be made from time to time on the map in 
the Tax Commissioners' Office; first, upon the application 
of an adjoining owner, as before mentioned ; but the bill 
goes on to provide that nothing in this section contained 
shall impair or affect the right of the Tax Commissioners 
to make corrections on the tax maps without such applica- 
tions as aforesaid. So that the foundation maps or the 
maps in the Tax Commissioners' Office are always subject 
to change by those officers. By the first section of the 
bill the curious scheme has been devised of having the 
changes that are made from time to time on the tax maps 
transferred to the Land Register Index and accompanying 
maps, so as to make the latter conform to the changes in 
the tax maps. All such changes, however, shall be made 



112 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

to take ejffect as of the first day of September; but, in order 
to provide time for making such changes, it seems that 
this scheme allows the superintendent to begin making 
them on the first day of June preceding. There is a period, 
therefore, between the first of June and the first of Sep- 
tember, during which it is not easy to determine %vhich set 
of maps are to prevail, whether those that have been 
altered in the Tax Commissioners' Office or those that are 
undergoing alterations in the Land Register's Office, for 
section 4 provides that when changes are made upon the 
tax maps of the city of jSTew York the Tax Commissioners 
shall give notice in writing to the superintendent of the 
Land Register of all such changes, with such specification 
or particulars in relation thereto as shall give to such super- 
intendent the information necessary to enable him so to 
change the Land Register Index and maps as to make the 
same conform to such changes in the tax maps, but the 
superintendent, for the purpose of making such changes, 
shall likewise be entitled to full and free access to the tax 
maps. ISTow, as the bill in the same section provides that 
the Tax Commissioners may make changes in their maps 
at all times upon application of parties in interest, and 
the provisions last quoted above seem to contemplate that 
notice of such changes shall be sent immediately to the 
Land Register superintendent, to enable him to make 
changes to confonn with the tax maps, the query arises 
wdiether he is to make changes from time to time during 
the year, or whether he is limited by the other provisions 
of the bill to make changes only between the first of June 
and the first of September. If the latter construction shall 
be maintained, the notices will probably accumulate in his 
office during the nine months of the year, and the changes 
would be gradually going on in the Tax Commissioners' 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 113 

Office for the whole year, while in the Land Register's 
Office changes could only be made during three months. 
Thus the two systems of maps could only coincide during 
a short period of the year, and yet the foundation of title 
rests upon the tax maps. Here, again, is a great oppor- 
tunity for confusion and mistakes through carelessness 
or incompetence. 

Bearing in mind, again, that the essential feature of 
this system is that the chief instrument forms no function 
for purposes of notice without the aid of a secondary in- 
strument to designate the lot which the chief instrument 
describes, we are brought to another curious anomaly in 
this system. If, by mistake, the lot designated by the 
secondary instrument in the first instance should happen 
to embrace only part of the area described in the chief 
instrument, at any time after the discovery of that mis- 
take a new designation of a lot or lots is provided for in 
section 6. By such new designation the chief instrument 
becomes for all practical purposes a recorded instrument 
for the entire area embraced within it; so that a deed or 
a mortgage called a chief instrument may be recorded and 
may stand for a time as a recorded instrument giving legal 
notice against a part of the area described in the chief 
instrument, and, by a subsequent designation after a lapse 
of time, it may become a fully recorded instrument for the 
whole area. So that it may stand as notice to purchasers 
for part of the land embraced within it for a time, and 
then, by subsequent action, through another instrument, 
be expanded to include the whole land embraced within 
its description. During this interim, between the first 
imperfect designation and the second perfect one, all sort3 
of equities may arise in purchases of adjoining lots, which 
will present some very curious questions to be decided by 
8 



114 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

the court. A fee is prescribed of twenty-five cents for 
eacli plot mentioned in the first designation when the chief 
instrument is recorded, but if there has been a mistake 
made, and the purchaser or mortgagee desires to designate 
other lots to come within the scope of his chief instru- 
ment, the bill prescribes that he shall pay a penalty of 
two dollars for each lot indexed against by such supple- 
mentary designation. 

There are many other criticisms that might be indulged 
in respecting the operations of this novel scheme in the 
Registry Ofiice. We turn now to the consideration of the 
plan in its practical workings, outside of the Tax and 
Register's Office and with the public. When a deed is 
drawn in an office under the present system, after it has 
been duly executed and acknowledged, it may be sent to 
the Register's Office by any office boy, or any person of 
the smallest intelligence may be the messenger, who has 
no other duty to perform than to leave the instrument 
with the register, and, if required, at the time to pay the 
register's fees. This is simple and easy and well under- 
stood by the mass of people. But, under the system pro- 
posed by this bill, when a deed is drawn and duly acknowl- 
edged, trouble only begins. The map in the Register's 
Office must be examined with the utmost care down to 
the latest practicable moment before the deed is left for 
record, so that the secondary instrument shall designate 
the lot embraced within the deed with certainty, or other- 
wise there will be a failure of notice of the record of the 
chief instrument. It will not answer to send to a Regis- 
ter's Office any one but a careful and intelligent person 
to examine the maps in that office to see that the lots in- 
dicated shall embrace the entire area in the deed. Here 
is a new and important service to be performed out of 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 115 

the office. The whole validity of the notice depends upon 
the care and accuracy with which this service is done, 
for the record of the deed goes for nothing unless this 
supplementary designation be perfect. So important did 
the framers of this bill deem this duty, that in section 6 
they provide that this designation shall be in writing, sub- 
scribed by one or more of the parties to said instrmnent, 
or his or their agent or attorney, duly acknowledged or 
proved. So that, after the execution of the deed, or simul- 
taneously therewith, this other instrument must be pre- 
pared and signed by the party, or his agent or attorney. 
Every land transfer is thus burdened, in addition to the 
service usually heretofore imposed upon it, with this new, 
delicate, and important service. It will be a long time 
before the public throughout this vast city will learn to 
know and appreciate the importance of this new method 
of securing the record title to their real estate. It leaves 
open innumerable chances for frauds and mistakes. Dis- 
honest persons can prevent the full benefit of the Registry 
Act by inducing or conniving at imperfect designations. 
Careless persons will impair the efficiency of the record- 
ing act by careless and improper designation. It is no 
mean undertaking to educate a whole people up to a new 
and intricate system of transferring real estate, and it will 
be a long time before knowledge of this system can be 
disseminated to all the persons who, from time to time, 
prepare good and valid deeds for the transfer of property. 
Unquestionably many deeds will be left for record with- 
out proper designation of the property to be affected. The 
bill as proposed provides no remedy for this. The Com- 
mittee of Seven are so impressed with the inconvenience 
and trouble that might grow out of this defect in the bill 
that they propose an amendment which would authorize 



116 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

the register to make a designation in such case of neglect, 
but requires him to give notice by mail to the grantee, or 
his attorney or agent, of his action in the premises, and 
provides that, after giving such mail notice, the index of 
such instrument shall be deemed to have been made in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of this act. In such case, 
however, the register is authorized to charge an extra fee. 

In its practical working there is no doubt that maps 
would be freely issued, showing the block numbers cover- 
ing the entire city, and would be accessible to most con- 
veyancers. This would answer the purpose for the prepa- 
ration of the deeds, but for the purpose of drawing the 
secondary instrument and designating the land on the 
maps in the Registry Office, every one would constantly be 
compelled to consult the maps in the Register's Office 
before the desigTiation could be made out so as to complete 
a transfer of real estate. 

So complicated is this system that the bill provides for 
the creation of tM^o new officers, one designated superin- 
tendent of the Land Register of the city of New York, 
who shall be appointed for a term of five years, and shall 
be paid a salary of not less than $7,000 nor more than 
$10,000 per year. This superintendent may appoint a 
deputy, who shall be one of the city surveyors, at a salary 
of not less than $5,000 and not more than $7,000 a year. 
Thus it appears that the system is so complicated and diffi- 
cult to administer that it requires at least two expensive 
officials to administer the same. Experience alone can 
tell whether they will not require many additional assist- 
ants to perform their arduous duties. The mayor of this 
city addressed a communication to this committee asking 
it to inquire as to the probable cost of inaugurating this 
novel system. The committee agreed that it had not suffi- 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 117 

cient time to investigate this subject, and could not, there- 
fore, report upon it, but all agreed that the expense would 
be necessarily very large. 

N"o better illustration of the novelties and complica- 
tions found in this bill could be given than the fact that 
your committee have had five sessions, many of them last- 
ing until near midnight, all the members trying to under- 
stand the scope and meaning of the proposed bill. The 
bill requires, in the opinion of your committee, something 
like fifteen amendments before it should go into effect. 
The present bill has about fifteen amendments in it, chang- 
ing it from the form in which it was introduced into the 
legislature in 1886. Six members of this committee, after 
five meetings, voted that the bill in its present form ought 
not to pass. At the time the vote was taken the seventh 
member was not present, and we do not know how he would 
have voted on this question. We can safely say that this 
committee endeavored, in a conscientious and careful way, 
to the best of their ability, to see if they could perfect the 
bill so that, in their judgment, it would be safe to let it go 
upon the statute books. The undersigned believe that if 
the bill, with all amendments, were placed in the hands 
of another committee of seven lawyers of good ability, 
they, on examination, would find as many more places 
where this novel system, in their judgment, would need to 
be amended before it could be put in operation. What a 
commentary this is upon a bill which is proposed to be 
enacted to apply to the transactions in the real estate of 
this vast city, and whose provisions must be understood 
and acted upon promptly and correctly by everybody who 
takes part in the transfer of real estate ! If there shall 
be in the working under the bill the diversity of opinion 
that prevails in the minds of everybody who undertakes 



118 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

to study the bill, what can be said of the confusion and 
disappointments and litigations that will inevitably flow 
out of the attempt to inaugurate this system? 

Turning now to the system known as the block system, 
it may be remarked that both systems provide for the legal 
designation of the blocks by consecutive numbers from 
the Battery northward to the Harlem River, and as far 
beyond as is practicable. 

Both systems provide for indexing under a general index 
certain conveyances of plots of land not embraced within 
the blocks, chiefly lands along the bulkheads, with all 
rights pertaining thereto; also for indexing in the same 
registry insolvent assignments, exemplified copies of wills 
and many other instruments of a kindred nature; so that, 
for the purpose of dealing with those questions, it is 
enough to say that both plans are substantially alike. As 
the great body of the property is in clearly defined blocks, 
and the chief difficulty at present existing is as to titles 
within such blocks, we propose to discuss here only that 
part of the block system of transfer which relates to 
property in blocks legally designated as provided in both 
systems. The question arises why is it that the present 
system has failed ? It has been in vogue for a hundred 
years, is still the system throughout this State, and is 
substantially the system adopted throughout the United 
States ; and yet, in its operations in the city of New York, 
it has become cumbersome and impracticable. The an- 
swer is easy. It is because the area of search and the 
commingling of the records of property by reason of the 
vast extent of the city render it difficult and laborious to 
find the record of any one particular lot. The theory of 
the block system is to narrow the area of search. In the 
city of Kew York, and in many other cities of the State, 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 119 

it is believed that the block is the smallest practicable 
parcel within which to confine such area, as it is in fact 
the smallest plot with legally defined boundaries ; and, in 
our judgment, is quite small enough. The block limits 
are established and fixed by law, and their exterior lines 
are established by monuments shown by the corners and 
lines of streets. There is, therefore, no uncertainty as to 
the gi-catest exterior limit possible to prevail in the shape 
or form of a plot conveyed within the limit of a block. 
The block system contemplates that one single change 
shall be made in the deed, and that is that the block num- 
ber shall be inserted in the body of the deed in the same 
manner that a town or county is now inserted in an ordi- 
nary conveyance. No other change in the form of the 
deed and no other instrument is required to inaugurate 
this system. A simple law should then be framed and 
passed requiring the register to assign to each block a 
volume, the volumes to be numbered consecutively from 
one upward, corresponding with the blocks designated in 
the same way upon the map. The register would then 
receive all deeds and mortgages the same as he does now, 
but, instead of mingling deeds from all parts of the city 
into one volume, he must confine the record of each deed 
to the book in Avhich records of the block referred to 
in the deed are to be made. If by chance a single deed 
should cover a description of land in two blocks, the deed 
would require to be recorded in the book assigned to each 
block, the same as now if a deed described land in two 
counties it must be recorded in the record book in each 
county. The practice would undoubtedly soon grow up of 
making separate deeds for lands in separate blocks, al- 
though it is not often that lots in separate blocks are put 
in the same deed in this city. There should accompany 



120 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

eacli book of records for each block a nominal index, sub- 
stantially as it is now kept, for that block. So that, when 
the system is once inaugurated, it will never be necessary 
to examine an index of the whole city, but only an index 
of that block. This system is capable of expansion to meet 
the exigencies of any city or any county in the State, for 
it is based upon the simple and unchangeable principle 
that the area of search may be limited to any legally de- 
fined boundaries. In a rural county, under this system, 
the deeds of every town may be separated from the 
deeds of all other to^^^ls, or the deeds in a village may 
be separated from all other deeds in the county, or the 
deeds in a ward may be separated from all other deeds in 
a city, or the deeds in other cities, if they shall so elect, 
may be classified together in blocks, but the law and the 
practice remain unchanged and uniform throughout the 
State, the principle underlying the registry being simply 
that of limiting the area so that the volume of records and 
of indexes shall not be unmanageable. This system re- 
quires no expensive superintendent of the Land Register 
or a deputy. It makes no violent change in the habits of 
the people touching land transfer. There is but one fact 
they have to learn so far as making their transfers are con- 
cerned, and that is that they must put into their deeds and 
mortgages the block number in which their land is situ- 
ated. It works no revolution in the law as to the legal 
effect of recording for the purpose of real estate transfers, 
but leaves them as they are today. The proposed lot 
system does work a radical change in the present law 
defining the effect of recording an instrument. The block 
system does no more than has often been done in the 
history of this State. When new counties have been cre- 
ated out of old counties, and new and narrower areas of 



LAND TRANSFER REFORM 121 

search have been created by the constitution of the new 
county, the change has produced no friction and no dis- 
turbance of the methods and habits of the people in trans- 
acting their business. It may be objected to this system 
that when land is transferred it leaves the duty upon the 
purchaser to examine the title; but this is not an onerous 
duty under this system, as he has but a single block to 
examine, much more easilv examined than the title in 
a rural hamlet. Everybody is familiar with the methods 
and the law affecting this duty, and business would go on 
without disturbance and without violent shock. ISTo one for 
a moment believes that, if such a system had prevailed for 
the last fifty years in this city, the present confusion and 
unsatisfactory state of things would prevail in the Registry 
Office. It is a system of infinite expansion ; it may go on 
as long as blocks are laid out. The size of the city, to 
whatever extent it may grow, will never emban'ass it. All 
the safeguards which have been so carefully built up 
around conveyancing will remain applicable to the narrow 
area of a block the same as they now exist. Conveyancing 
will be more cheaply, rapidly, and accurately done for 
many years under this system than it can possibly be done 
under the complicated system pointed out in the lot plan. 
In what we have said we do not wish to be understood 
as defending, or being called upon to defend, all the pro- 
visions of what is known as the Olmsted Bill. While 
that bill contains what we deem to be the invaluable fea- 
ture of a block system of indexing, we do not agree in the 
wisdom of many of its details. Careful reflection and 
study have brought us to the conclusion that the whole 
subject of improvement in the methods of land and 
transfer in this city turns upon an improved method of 
applying the long-established principles that have pre- 



132 LAND TRANSFER REFORM 

vailed throughout the State. It is a simple question of 
narrowing the area of search and keeping the records of 
each new area by themselves. 

The essential vice of the proposed lot system is that it 
is an attempt to build that which should be stable upon a 
foundation that is unstable. The principle underl^-ing 
it is wrong, and no amount of ingenuity in plans can make 
it practicable or safe to adopt. In our judgment it can 
never succeed. We recommend the adoption of the block 
system, which, by the confession of the friends of the 
lot plan, would remove substantially all the evils of our 
present methods, and not incur the risk of inaugurating 
a new and special system of real estate for the city of 
New York not applicable to the State at lari^e. 

New York, February 18, 1887. 



1 



PROTECTIVE TARIFF 

REPORT ADOPTED BY THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

Three questions of paramount importance are now agi- 
tating the public mind, and require careful and wise legis- 
lation. One is the surplus money accumulating in the 
United States Treasury; another, the question of protec- 
tion to American industry ; and, third, the treatment of the 
manufacture and sale of spirituous liquors. At first sight 
these three questions do not appear to be germane one to 
the other, and under ordinary circumstances they would 
not, and perhaps could not, be treated together; but the 
situation is such that an intelligent treatment of either 
affects each of the others, and so the consideration of all 
becomes important and material. We assume, without 
debate, that the great principle of protection to American 
industry is a cardinal and fundamental principle in the 
creed of the Republican party, and that, in the views of 
that party, all legislation should be based upon the pres- 
ervation of that doctrine upon which the great prosperity 
of this country has been built. It is equally true that the 
accumulation of the large surplus in the Treasury of the 
United States is an evil that demands prompt and speedy 
treatment. The treatment must be effective and certain 
to arrest the present flow of money into the Treasury, 
which threatens to disturb all of the business interests of 
the country. It is also true that the pretensions and claims 
of the dealers in spirituous liquors are menacing the moral 



124 PROTECTIVE TARIFF 

and material interests of the country to such an extent 
as to arouse the fears of all right-thinking citizens. The 
accumulation of surplus in the Treasury is the excess over 
necessary expenses that reaches that department through 
the imposts on imported goods and through the collec- 
tions of the Internal Revenue Bureau. That surplus is 
made, by the message of the President and by the posi- 
tion of the Democratic party, the lever to overthrow the 
principle of protection to American industry. Confess- 
edly, revenue derived from one source or the other must 
be arrested. It makes no difference, as to the effect of an 
accumulation of surplus upon the financial interests of the 
country, from what source that surplus is derived. Money 
derived from the tax upon spirituous liquors, when in the 
Treasury, is withdrawn from circulation, and affects mate- 
rial interests precisely the same as any other money. On 
the other hand, it is not the policy of the Republican 
party, nor is it wise statesmanship or good morals, to do 
anything which shall relieve the liquor interest from any 
burden which it now carries. On the contrary, the Repub- 
lican party should set its face firmly and resolutely to so 
treat that interest that it shall be curtailed and restricted 
in its well-known baleful influence. It would be unwise 
and suicidal to say or do anything which, in its operation 
or effect, could encourage that interest. We do not pro- 
pose to discuss at length or enlarge upon the enormity of 
the evils growing out of the liquor traffic. We abate not 
one jot nor tittle from anything that the most advanced 
thinkers have said against the traffic in spirituous liquors. 
Nevertheless, if the revenues derived from that interest 
have become a menace to the prosperity of the country, 
a question is raised whether the continued collection of 
those revenues by the United States Government, which 



PROTECTIVE TARIFF 125 

was wise in the past, is necessarily wise for the present 
and the future. It would be only one more crime to 
charge up against that traffic if it should be the force 
used to break down the productive industries of the 
country. 

It appears by the last report of the commissioner of 
internal revenue that during the last fiscal year the gov- 
ernment received from spirits and fermented liquors 
$87,751,508.49; from tobacco it received about $30,000,- 
000; from other sources a small amount was received, 
making a total of $118,837,301.06. It thus appears that 
the internal revenue derived from spirits and fermented 
liquors is the principal source from which moneys are de- 
rived in that department of the government. 

The Secretary of the Treasury reports that the present 
actual net surplus on December 1st was $55,258,701, 
after all obligations were provided for. He estimates that 
this surplus will be increased for the next fiscal year; so 
that, under the operation of present laws, at the end of 
the year the surplus will amount to $140,000,000. It is 
plain, therefore, that the estimated increase of the sur- 
plus will be substantially equivalent to the collections by 
the Internal Revenue Bureau from spirituous liquors. If 
the Internal Eevenue Department should be abolished, it 
would at once and immediately put an end to all question 
of surplus in the Treasury. The government would then 
start with its present accumulation, which would be gradu- 
ally reduced by reason of the imposts on imported articles 
not being sufficient to meet the expenses of the government 
for the next one or two fiscal years. If it be objected that 
in the future the resources of the government would not be 
sufficient to meet its liabilities, it is not only reasonable, 
but highly probable, that the impost duties would increase 



126 PROTECTIVE TARIFF 

from year to year, so that by the time this present surplus 
is expended, the revenues from impost duties would meet 
all the requirements of the government. 

The Secretary of the Treasury reports a net increase 
of $34,963,550.60 for the last fiscal year, but of this net 
increase only $2,017,454.74 was derived from internal 
revenue, which leaves the increase derivable from other 
sources than internal revenue to be $32,946,095.86. It 
is not improbable that this rate of increase, or something 
approximate to it, would go on from year to year, so that 
the government would find itself with ample funds for its 
needs. 

Going back, now, to the question of the internal revenue 
derived from spirits, excluding fermented liquors, we 
find the amount derived last year from that source was 
$65,829,321.71. Of this amount of spirits distilled a 
considerable portion enters into manufacturing industries. 
There are no reliable statistics as to what per cent, of 
the spirits manufactured is used for such purposes. Con- 
siderable testimony was taken on this question before the 
Tariff Commission appointed by Congress a few years 
since, and many intelligent men have given their esti- 
mates upon it. The lowest proportion that has been 
named is 5 per cent., the highest proportion 50 per 
cent. It is the opinion of those conversant with the sub- 
ject that the lowest is much too low and the highest too 
high. It is probable that the amount is about 40 per 
cent. Assuming that as a basis, we have the revenues 
derived from spirits, 40 per cent, thereof, or $26,331,728, 
which is levied as a direct tax upon home industries. 

Much thought and attention have been given to the 
subject of finding some method by which spirits used in 
the arts and manufactures could be separated from the 



PROTECTIVE TARIFF 127 

liquor which is used as a beverage, so that the domestic 
manufacturers should not be called upon to contribute to 
the government this vast sum of $26,331,728, which is, in 
effect, a direct tax, and operates to that extent against the 
domestic manufacture of such articles as require its use. 
No device and no plan has yet been suggested by which 
that result can be reached without opening a wide door 
to frauds upon the government. If the Internal Revenue 
Department is abolished, large and material interests of 
the country would be relieved from this unjust and un- 
necessary tax, a tax which discriminates against the home 
production of a large class of articles required for the 
ordinary use of the citizens. 

The expenses of collecting the internal revenue are re- 
ported at $4,055,148.87. An army of 4,000 office-holders 
is maintained with this money. These officials are un- 
necessary and vexatious spies upon the business of the 
people. To relieve these men from their official duties 
and restore them to the productive industries of the 
country would be a great gain to the public and be 
entirely in harmony with the reform professions of this 
administration. 

Revenue from tobacco, as we have stated above, is about 
$30,000,000. If it be said that this is a tax upon a luxury, 
it is also a tax upon a large productive industry of this 
country, and is chiefly a tax upon the luxury of poor men, 
as they are the principal consumers of domestic tobacco. 
So long as imposts are continued upon imported tobacco 
and cigars, the revenue from that source will be derived 
chiefly from an article that is a luxury indulged in prin- 
cipally by those who are able to pay it. We do not advo- 
cate the reduction of the tax upon tobacco as such, but 
only the repeal of the internal taxes which are derived 



138 PROTECTIVE TARIFF 

mainly from domestic production. The proposition to 
repeal the tax upon spirits will at first strike many minds 
as unwise, and as relieving a trafiic which ought to bear a 
heavy burden from its proportion of the cost of the govern- 
ment. To do this in fact would be unwise, and would 
shock the moral sense of the community. We would not 
for one moment advocate anything which would be an 
encouragement to that traffic, or that would relieve it from 
any restraints which can be thrown around it. Our con- 
tention is that the money derived from it is unnecessary 
for the general government; and that, unless it is at once 
put into circulation, it operates just as mischievously as 
revenue derived from any other source when it reaches 
the Treasury vaults in Washington. The money derived 
from the liquor traffic should be collected by States and 
municipalities, so that it may go to support in some meas- 
ure the pauperism and crime which it produces. It may 
be objected that when the general government ceases to 
collect revenue from that interest, the States and munici- 
palities which may have jurisdiction over the liquor traffic 
would not impose taxes to an equal amount upon that 
traffic. We believe this objection to be fallacious. That 
the temperance sentiment is growing with rapid strides 
throughout the country is evidenced on all sides. The 
West and South are already leading the East and North 
on that question. The sentiment is a healthy and whole- 
some one. It is true the friends of temperance are not 
agreed as to the measures that are practical and effective 
to curtail this evil. A respectable and conscientious body 
of citizens believe that there is no remedy save prohibi- 
tion. A much larger body of citizens, members of both 
the Republican and Democratic parties, believe that the 
time is not yet ripe for that measure ; while many believe 



PROTECTIVE TARIFF 129 

that it never will come. It is in accord with the experience 
of this country that no policy can be enforced which is not 
sustained by public sentiment. That public sentiment is 
not yet ripe for prohibition must be conceded by every- 
body. As a limitation upon the traffic, heavy local taxa- 
tion, whether in the form of high license or any other 
taxation which shall be constitutional in the several States, 
is practical, and public sentiment is fully ripe to sustain 
it. The Eepublican party should plant itself firmly and 
decisively upon this ground. As one State after another, 
by legislation, shall derive large revenues from this traffic, 
the example will be contagious. If it once becomes under- 
stood that the United States has surrendered its claim to 
tax this interest, it will not be difficult to create a public 
sentiment which shall demand the enactment of laws to 
take the same money that the United States collected for 
the benefit of the States and municipalities who have to 
bear the burden and the crime produced by the traffic. 
This policy is entirely in accord with the principle of abso- 
lute prohibition in such States and localities as demand, 
and are able to enforce, that remedy. It is consistent with 
the local option laws in any State. It is in harmony with 
those who contend for high license and taxation. Eightly 
considered, it is in conflict mth no phase of the temperance 
question. If the Republican party shall wisely take high 
and decided ground upon this subject of temperance, it 
will at once put it in harmony with the sentiments of the 
best element in the Southern States. The Southern tem- 
perance sentiment will not be slow to find that upon this 
great question of moral reform its strongest and only ally 
is the Republican party. The two sections will be brought 
into harmonious action upon a question that is dear to the 

hearts of the best citizens of both sections. It does not 
9 



130 PROTECTIVE TARIFF 

seem to be wild conjecture that when that state of things 
arises, great good will accrue to the country by harmoni- 
ous action upon other questions in which the true interests 
of the South are in harmony with the sentiments of the 
Republican party. Our party must be prepared to enter 
upon the battle with the liquor traffic, but the lines of 
battle should be so set that the conflict shall not result in 
injury to other great and material interests. The position 
of the two parties to-day is not unlike the position of the 
Eepublican party in the great contest of 1860 on the 
slavery question. There was then a small but respectable 
party in favor of the abolition of slavery. Abolition was 
then regarded by the masses of the people as imprac- 
ticable; but to limit and restrain slavery was deemed to 
be practicable. In so far as slavery had any friends in 
the !N^orthern States, they were found in the Democratic 
party — the same party that is now supporting the saloon 
and liquor interest. Then the Democratic party also con- 
tained a very large and respectable body of citizens who 
sympathized with the anti-slavery sentiment of the Re- 
publicans, but did not and could not sustain the ex- 
treme doctrine of the Abolition party. We believe the 
state of things is substantially the same to-day on the 
question of temperance, that the Democratic party contains 
a vast number of men who would sustain a vigorous policy 
by the Republicans in restraint of the liquor trafiic. The 
attitude of the Republican party in the past has been 
such as to concentrate with great vigor the saloon interest 
in the Democratic party. Timid party men have nothing 
more to fear from the opposition of the liquor interest. 
In Pennsylvania the Republican party accepted the issue, 
planted itself firmly on the ground of opposition to the 
saloon interest, and carried the State in the last election 



PROTECTIVE TARIFF 131 

triumphantly after a close and severe canvass. To take 
a doubtful position on this issue is defeat. To go forward, 
with the line of battle properly set, means certain triumph. 
We therefore recommend the adoption of the following 
resolution : 

Besolved, That we deem it wise Republican statesman- 
ship to abolish the Internal Revenue Department of 
the United States as the safest and most practicable 
way of reducing the surplus of the Treasury and preserv- 
ing unimpaired the great principle of protection to Ameri- 
can industry ; and, also, to advocate and enforce, wherever 
the power exists, rigorous and vigorous legislation in the 
various States in favor of taxation of the liquor traffic 
to the highest degree practicable, to the end that the 
money collected from that source may be applied directly 
to defray the expenses of the pauperism and crime that it 
entails upon the several States. 

New York, April, 1888. 



THE LIQUOK TRAFFIC 

No question within the power of legislation has received 
so much attention during the last fifty years as that of the 
use of spirituous liquors as a beverage, if we except the 
slavery question. Like the latter question, it has been 
considered from the religious, the moral, and the political 
standpoint. At first it was treated mainly as a religious 
and moral question. Of late the political aspect of the 
subject has received a wide and exhaustive discussion. 

On the whole, the progress of the reform has not been 
satisfactory to its friends. The weakness of human nature 
in its appetite, and the cuj)idity of men in their desire for 
money, have rooted the evil in the body politic so deej)ly 
as to cause the greatest anxiety in the minds of all thought- 
ful persons. That moral suasion and religious considera- 
tions have worked mightily upon a vast body of citizens, 
and have saved them from destruction, must be conceded. 
On the other hand, the number of persons who are the 
thoughtless or helpless victims of the vice of drinking is so 
great that they are a menace to the good of society, eating 
out so much of manhood as to cripple the State, and cast- 
ing upon the sober and industrious burdens they ought 
not to bear. The constantly recurring questions. What 
can be done ? What ought to be done ? will come up for 
answer. In replying to these questions, we must consider 
what is practicable and possible. What the State wants, 
what society wants, is relief from this great evil. 

jSTo relief comes from attempting the impossible. One 



THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 133 

question may be considered settled by the discussions of 
the last fifty years, and that is, that as a question of power 
the State can interfere and go to any length that is neces- 
sary to root out this evil. The friends and defenders of 
the liquor traffic undertake to defend the business because 
it is a business in which large investments have been made, 
and that to invade or curtail this traffic would be to abridge 
individual rights and assail the safeguards of private prop- 
erty. This is entirely fallacious. The State has always 
exercised control over individuals and property, when the 
highest good of the State has required it. It has pro- 
hibited gambling and passed laws for the seizure of the 
implements of gambling and the punishment of those en- 
gaged in it. N'ow, it may be plausibly reasoned that 
gambling is an individual matter; that a person who has 
money has a perfect right to do what he pleases with it, 
either to give it away or gamble it away if he will. 

With reference to lotteries, there is a constitutional pro- 
hibition against them; and yet why should not a person 
spend his own money, that he has earned, in a lottery 
ticket, if he desires to do so ? Owners of agricultural lands 
are prohibited by the constitution from leasing the same 
for more than twelve years. Now, why should not an 
agricultural landlord and tenant be at liberty to make any 
bargain they please ? The answer is that, if left to them- 
selves, they would, by long leases, be likely to bring about 
a state of things that now afflicts Ireland. Numerous 
other illustrations might be given where the State has 
interfered with personal rights and property for the gen- 
eral good. The policy of the State is to protect itself from 
anything that puts in jeopardy the general good. It is the 
conscience, intelligence, and the integrity of the people 
that chieflv limits this control. Until our scheme of self- 



134 THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 

government shall prove itself a failure, no damage can 
result from the exercise of this power of protection by 
the State. Those engaged in the liquor traffic concede 
the propriety of State control of their traffic, but they 
clamor for what they call just and equal laws, which means 
laws that do not materially affect or limit their business. 
This is precisely what the good of the State does not re- 
quire. If the business of the liquor dealers is as harmless 
as selling corn or potatoes, then there is no occasion for 
State interference, and one business should be as free as 
the other. The concession by the liquor dealers that the 
State should in some measure limit and regulate the traffic 
is a concession that in some way and to some extent the 
traffic menaces the good of the State. That brings us to 
the questions, How serious a menace is the traffic? and 
Who shall determine the extent of the State control that 
is necessary to protect the State"? 

The measure of the remedy should bear some propor- 
tion to the magnitude of the evil. If the evil is slight, the 
remedy should be moderate. If the evil is great and 
threatening, the remedy should be the more radical. To 
dwell upon the evils of intemperance is to dwell upon a 
hackneyed subject ; and yet a few suggestions at this tune 
will give point to the argument in favor of strong and radi- 
cal measures to limit and cure the evil. It is stated upon 
good authority that the number of saloons in this city is 
about 7,500 and in Brooklyn about 5,000, or a total of 
about 12,500 saloons and drinking places. It is estimated 
that the average income of these places is not less than 
$4,000 per annum each. This seems a reasonable esti- 
mate, when we consider that rent, attendance, light, fuel, 
liquors, etc., have to be paid for to carry on the business. 
At this estimated rate of income, there is taken out of 



THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 135 

the people in these two cities for this traffic the sum of 
$50,000,000 annually, if we say nothing of the balance of 
the State. If such a sum was extorted from the same 
class of people by a tax, it would produce a revolution in 
our government. To the people who drink, this money is 
wasted. It is taken from families, homes, mothers, and 
children. What $50,000,000 would purchase in comforts, 
such as improved homes, clothing, food, education, etc., 
is mostly lost to the innocent and helpless. Nor is this 
all. It destroys the ability to earn money in untold 
thousands of its victims; it promotes crime and im- 
morality; it baffles the teaching of those seeking the reli- 
gious and moral elevation of the human family; it fills 
our State prisons, jails, and all charitable institutions; 
it increases the burdens of the State for the industrious 
and sober, so that every one who pays taxes pays a very 
considerable portion of them to support saloons; it un- 
necessarily burdens the charitable, for all who have had 
experience know that a large per cent, of the demands 
for charity would never exist except for this traffic. 

In these two cities there would be but little poverty 
and want if this $50,000,000 could be diverted from the 
saloons and turned towards families and homes. Taxes 
would be reduced, crime would be duninished, religion 
and morality would be promoted, and the clamorous de- 
mand of charity be greatly reduced. 

Surely here is an evil of sufficient magnitude for the 
State to seek a remedy; and shall this remedy be only 
such as those engaged in the traffic approve, or such as 
the good of the State demands? The failure at the late 
election to carry two-thirds of both branches of the legis- 
lature, so that an expected executive veto could be over- 
ridden, will be likely to produce discouragement in the 



136 THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 

minds of many friends of liigh license, and induce them 
to accept half-way measures or compromises that will be 
acceptable to those engaged in the traffic. This we deem 
will be an abandonment of all the benefits of high license. 
High license should be of such a character as to bring 
to the narrowest practicable volume the amount of the 
business, and compel it to bear as much as possible of the 
burdens that that traffic now casts unjustly upon the sober 
and charitable part of the community. 

Eecent events have established that, for the present 
at least, prohibition in this country cannot be obtained. 
It is equally well established that high license laws do 
restrain and limit the traffic. In war it is deemed the 
greatest folly to risk a general engagement without rea- 
sonable grounds to expect a victory, and to risk a general 
engagement with a certainty of defeat is madness. In 
this is the mistake of the Prohibitionists. Important out- 
posts can often be taken when the citadel cannot be cap- 
tured. The Prohibitionists are chargeable with refusing 
to secure that which can be secured, and which, experience 
has shown, tends to increase temperance and morality, 
while they are striving after the impossible at this time, 
and thus helping along with all their power the swelling 
tide of intemperance, crime, and poverty. 

We therefore recommend the adoption by this club of 
the following : 

Resolved, That we deem it unwise and dangerous to 
the cause of temperance for the friends of high license to 
accept any measure that does not come up to the fair in- 
tent of that policy. That it is better to let the Democratic 
party and the Prohibitionists divide the responsibility for 
the present state of intemperance, crime, and poverty, 



THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 137 

until such time as a practicable remedy can be secured. 
That we earnestly recommend to the Republican mem- 
bers of the legislature, at the ensuing session, to stand fast 
for the principle of high license, so that whenever a license 
law shall be carried, the State may secure substantial 
benefit from such a measure. 

'New York, N'ovember 26, 1889. 



THE McinNLEY TAKIFF, 1890 

The primary purpose of impost duties is to raise the 
money necessary to support the general government. The 
most vital function of a government is the power to raise 
money for its support, because its usefulness in all direc- 
tions is gone without this power. A government cannot 
exist without exercising it. Whatever difference of opin- 
ion there may be as to forms of government, all have this 
corner-stone in common. Political economists may differ 
as to the method of raising the money, but all agree as 
to the basis on which the political structure we call a civil 
government must stand. There are but three sources, 
with trifling exceptions, known to civilized countries from 
which to derive support, and those are either impost duties 
(commonly called tariff duties), export duties, and internal 
taxation in some form. Export duties form no part of 
the fiscal policy of this country, and need not be referred 
to again. Statesmanship in financial matters has to deal 
with the method of raising the necessary money to carry 
on the government. It is the statesman's duty to point 
out the place or places from which, and provide the means 
by which, the collection of the money can be enforced. 

The political economist may very properly point out 
the best method of raising the money so that the burden 
may fall as lightly upon, and be distributed as justly 
among, the people as possible; and, therefore, the states- 
man should also be a political economist. The amount 



THE Mckinley tariff, 1890 139 

of money necessary to be raised at this time to support 
the general government is about $400,000,000. 

That an annual levy of $400,000,000 should be a burden 
upon the people of the United States which they would 
like to be rid of is not surprising. The question is, upon 
which shoulder shall they carry the burden? It proves 
nothing against the tariff bill to point out that some par- 
ticular interest or interests would be better off without an 
impost duty. The friends of the tariff may safely con- 
cede that, and yet justify the tariff duty as necessary and 
best, on the whole, for the government support. Free- 
traders but half argue the question when they point out 
that the tariff tax burdens somebody. All exactions from 
the people to support civil government are distasteful. 
A desire to escape the assessor and the tax collector is not 
an unusual thing, at least in this country. There is no 
particular wisdom in calling a " tariff a tax," unless it be 
wisdom to characterize with an opprobrious term the suc- 
cessful financial policy of all the fathers of the republic. 

If the free-traders would develop their ideas as to how 
they would raise the $400,000,000, and tell the people 
what their scheme of taxation is, it would add life and 
interest to the dreary discussion they have been carrying 
on. How much of this money do they expect to take 
directly from the farmers, and what is their method of 
doing it? What proportion of the fixed incomes of the 
people are to be taken to make up this vast sum? What 
proportion of the incomes from the professions, what 
stamp duties, and, in general, where is this money to 
come from? As political economists, while examining 
with philosophical nicety the bearings and effect upon 
business of a tariff upon imported goods, it is not to be 
presumed that they have overlooked the prime factor that, 



140 THE Mckinley tariff, i890 

when tliej have educated the people to be free-traders, 
they must be prepared to substitute some revenue scheme 
to take the place of a tariff. The more details they will 
give of the new scheme the more interesting it will be 
to the public, because the people will be better able to 
compare the two plans and judge which they like best. 
Philosophers sometimes dislike practical questions, because 
they interfere with their theories. This is a practical 
question. The British free-traders have met it manfully. 
They simply tax everything a British subject has or uses, 
from a cradle to a tombstone, inclusive. 

While the British free-traders have urged upon us the 
beauties of free trade, it is not recalled that, in any of 
their dissertations prepared for this country, they have 
dwelt at length upon the beauties and delights of their 
scheme of internal taxation. 

What the people want at this time is more light on this 
subject. They are pretty well informed as to the free- 
traders' objections to the tariff. They have learned all 
about its iniquity, inequality, and immorality. What is 
now wanted is the free-traders' scheme for raising 
$400,000,000 that shall be free from the objections they 
find in a tariff, and the burden of which shall rest upon 
the people as gently as a benediction. 

The friends of a tariff are not ready yet to abandon 
that method of raising money to support the government, 
because a better method has not yet been pointed out. 
The field of internal taxation is pretty well worked at this 
time to support our State and municipal governments, and 
the people are not anxious to see the tax gatherer for the 
general government asking for a further sum for its sup- 
port. It is not yet made clear to them that it is desirable 
to change the traditional policy of this government. 



THE Mckinley tariff, i890 141 

Since its formation this policy has been to seek support 
from impost duties whenever a sufficient smn could be 
realized from that source. The first revenue bill signed 
by Washington was a tariff bill, which declared in its pre- 
amble that its purpose was to raise money and protect 
American industries. That was soon followed by an inter- 
nal revenue bill. It was not until after the War of 1812, 
and about the year 1818, that the internal revenue system 
was terminated, and from that time until the War of the 
Eebellion, in 1862, the United States was never driven 
to resort to internal taxation for its support. 

During the Eebellion, and for some years thereafter, 
both systems — the impost duties and internal taxation — 
were strained to the highest practicable point, so as to 
raise the greatest amount of revenue possible. Since the 
war closed, most of the internal taxes have been repealed, 
and the laws imposing impost duties have been from time 
to time modified, so as to reduce the revenue from that 
source, chiefly by placing upon the free list articles not 
the product of American industries. For over forty years 
before the war, all parties agreed that the general govern- 
ment should be supported by impost duties, but they dif- 
fered as to what kind of tariff should be levied. The 
Whigs contended for a " protective tariff," while the 
Democrats contended for what they called a " revenue 
tariff." This description of a Democratic tariff was glori- 
ously uncertain, and the phrase could be made to do duty 
for any kind of a tariff, according to locality. It was a very 
much overworked description in those days, like the words 
" reform " and " revenue reform " at the present time. 
Both Whigs and Democrats sought to raise the same 
amount of money. The difference was in the method of 
levying imposts. The protective tariff system contem- 



143 THE Mckinley tariff, i890 

plated that the impost duties should be so laid as to pro- 
mote American industries. A revenue tariff was generally 
described to be a tariff so levied as to produce the neces- 
sary support of the government, regardless of its effects 
ujjon home industries. 

Free trade, as understood in English financial policy, 
has never had a practical foothold in this country. The 
doctrine is revolutionary, and, if practically applied, in- 
volves an entire reversal of the financial policy which we 
have followed from the foundation of our government. 
It is not believed that the people, when they fully under- 
stand the question, will ever consent to be taxed by the 
general government for its support, and open the ports 
to free trade. There is no escape from the proposition 
that it must be supported by tariff duties or by internal 
taxation in some form. There is no consistency in de- 
nouncing all tariff duties as wrong, unjust, and immoral, 
without at the same time advocating internal taxation 
as a substitute. 

If the people adhere to the policy that the general gov- 
ernment shall find its chief support in impost duties, the 
only remaining question of broad policy is, shall those 
duties be adjusted so as to raise the necessary revenue, 
regardless of its effect on our industries, or shall they be 
so adjusted as to foster and promote those industries ? In 
other words, shall it be a revenue tariff or a protective 
tariff? Republicans — and a not inconsiderable portion of 
the Democratic party, especially in the South, as ex- 
pressed in many of the leading Democratic papers — be- 
lieve that in raising this vast sum for the general govern- 
ment, it can be so levied as to promote our own industries. 
The money is not raised to aid manufacturing inter- 
ests or any other home industries. It is raised because 



THE Mckinley tariff, i890 us 

it must be levied somewhere. Free-traders have indus- 
triously tried to make people believe that the protective 
tariff is a system of taxation for the benefit of certain 
manufacturers, and that the people are taxed to make the 
manufacturers rich. ^Nothing can be more false in fact 
or in logic than this statement of the case. 

ISTot a dollar is raised for the benefit of the manufac- 
turers. The purpose of a protective tariff is to raise just 
the amount required for the support of the government. 
As this sum must be raised by internal taxation unless 
raised by impost duties, the protective policy is to so raise 
it by impost duties as to promote our own industries. 
These are promoted by letting in free such things as we 
do not or cannot produce, and by placing this tax to sup- 
port the government upon such foreign articles as we do 
or can produce. 

The free-trade and revenue reformers have of late been 
claiming great credit to themselves for their advocacy of 
free raw material. They seem to boast as if they were 
championing a new doctrine. They have, intentionally or 
ignorantly, overlooked the fact that this is, and always 
has been, one of the axioms of protective policy, and one 
that has always been maintained by those who understood 
the true doctrine of protection. This advocacy of free 
raw material by the free-traders is a concession on their 
part that when impost duties are levied there should be 
discrimination in favor of American industries, and to 
that extent admits the case of the protectionist. Raw 
material, which it is desirable to import free, includes 
such products of industry as we do not and cannot pro- 
duce reasonably cheap in this country, taking into ac- 
count our natural resources and their capability of devel- 
opment. The term " free raw material " is liable to be 



144 THE Mckinley tariff, 1890 

misleading, because that whicli is the finished article of 
one industry may be only the raw material of another 
and higher grade of industry or manufactures. A just 
application of the doctrine of protection is to so adjust 
the levy of the necessary money as to equitably protect 
all industries of the country. The bearings of the impost 
upon the industries of the manufacturer, the farmer, the 
miner, or any other industry, should be carefully studied 
so as to aid, rather than retard, the same. 

It is no answer to the propriety of a particular impost 
duty upon an industry that such industry would be better 
off without the impost and with free trade. 

The real question is, Is the impost unequal as com- 
pared with other industries? The burden of supporting 
the government must be borne by somebody, in some form. 

In framing any tariff or tax bill there is great practical 
difficulty. There are liable to be private and conflicting 
interests difficult to satisfy. Some persons will take only 
a narrow and personal view of a particular impost or levy. 
All cannot escape the burdens of supporting the govern- 
ment. If an attempt were made to frame a purely revenue 
tariff, or a bill to raise this large amount of money by 
internal taxation, the same difficulties would arise as to 
conflicting interests. Some would think they had not been 
fairly treated. In fact, pure abstract justice cannot be 
attained, no matter on what lines any revenue bill may 
be framed. It is not the purpose of this committee to 
express an opinion on the wisdom of any particular im- 
post proposed in the McKinley Bill in its bearing upon 
certain industries. Among those who adhere to the doc- 
trine of a protective tariff, in particular cases, there are 
wide and honest differences of opinion. The bill seems to 
be an honest, painstaking, and able effort to prepare a 



THE Mckinley tariff, i890 145 

revenue measure to support the government, based on 
the established principles of protective policy which were 
adopted by the Republican party at the last National Con- 
vention, and fully discussed in the last canvass and ap- 
proved by the people. We, therefore, recommend the 
adoption of the following resolution : 

Resolved, That the Union League Club approves the 
general scope and principles of the McKinley Tariff Bill 
as calculated to produce only the money necessary to sup- 
port the government, and as embodying the sound doc- 
trines of a protective tariff adopted in the National Repub- 
lican Platform, and recommends that Congress pass the 
same, with such amendments, if any, as may be necessary 
to perfect it, to the end that it may speedily become a law 
of the land, and thus put at rest the questions affecting 
the vast interests of the country, now disturbed by sus- 
pense and uncertainty as to the final action of the govern- 
ment in this important matter. 

New York, April 29, 1890. 
10 



NEW OELEAN'S EIOTS (FIEST EEPOET) 

On the 10th day of this month the civilized world was 
shocked and startled by an event at New Orleans unparal- 
leled in the history of modern Anglo-Saxon civilization. 

No event has occurred in the history of this country, in 
a time of peace, so fraught with peril to our institutions 
as this. Whatever the wrong may be that was committed 
against the victims, the greatest wrong was to the country 
and to our boasted system of self-government. It may 
be conceded that it is highly probable there was a kind 
of rude justice meted out to the victims of the massacre; 
and, in so far as that result was reached, it may be received 
in explanation of the motives of those engaged in it, and 
relieve them from the charge of brutal, wanton murder, 
committed to gratify wicked and ferocious natures. Under 
a government of law and order the act committed was 
murder, and nothing but murder; and, in a community 
alive and sensitive to the duty of maintaining law and 
order, the perpetrators would be sought out and punished, 
not as they meted out punishment, but in due course 
of law. 

It does not seem probable that any such course will be 
pursued, for the reason that, so far as can now be gathered, 
almost the entire sentiment of the city, official and un- 
official, either wholly approves of the act or is ready to ex- 
cuse and defend it. 

The citizens of this State, and of all the other States, 
having a common interest in law and order for the good of 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (FIRST REPORT) 147 

all, are brought to the startling spectacle of the chief city of 
one of the States being either unable or unwilling to rise 
up and demand that majesty of the law shall be main- 
tained. This case is peculiar, and deserves the study and 
thoughtful consideration of every lover of his country. 
Outbreaks of violence and murder are not unusual. Mob 
violence is sometimes formidable and threatening. 

Heretofore it has usually broken out in resistance to law, 
or to forestall legal proceedings and inflict a more speedy 
and summary punishment. The New Orleans case has this 
important and new feature, that no force was exercised 
until the law had taken its full course, and had, as alleged, 
failed to punish dangerous characters. The conditions are 
just those of a government of anarchy. If the law's fail- 
ure in this case to do justice can justify mob violence, it 
can do it again and again. This is the first great step in 
our history taken by the alleged best citizens to teach and 
illustrate the doctrine of the mob violence in place of law. 
The strength of the law is the people's respect for it. The 
law of the country has no actual force behind it able to en- 
force its decrees except the respect and willing obedience 
of the citizens. The events in New Orleans and the ten- 
dency of them cannot be viewed by any good citizen with- 
out the gravest apprehension. Such examples are con- 
tagious. No one can tell where the next mob will under- 
take to correct the failures that are supposed to occur in 
the administration of the law, nor how many such assaults 
our system of government will endure. We all know 
that the decline and fall of nations are gradual. Failure 
never occurs all at once. The first false steps are the ones 
that finally lead to ruin. It is the interest of every citizen 
of this broad land to resist in all proper ways the tendency 
of this New Orleans outbreak, and do what he can to 



148 NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (FIRST REPORT) 

create such a public sentiment that no second attempt of a 
like nature shall be made. While condemning without 
qualification the course pursued in New Orleans, it is not 
believed that the majority of those engaged in the illegal 
proceedings were in any sense enemies of our country, or 
intended to make a dangerous assault upon our free in- 
stitutions. They are not anarchists nor revolutionists, but 
are undoubtedly lovers of their country. They were mis- 
taken in the remedy they adopted for a real evil they were 
suffering under. The charge is made that an organization 
of foreign criminals, bound together by solemn oaths, had 
in cold blood murdered the chief of police of that city; 
that they had committed many other criminal acts, and 
had threatened many citizens with summary death; and 
that, finally, when brought to trial, they were able to 
intimidate or corrupt the jury and cause a miscarriage of 
justice of such a glaring nature as to excite the just indig- 
nation of good citizens and justify them in their summary 
punishment of the criminals. 

Without admitting for one moment that the facts justify 
the outbreak, they show a condition of things that de- 
mands thoughtful consideration by every American citi- 
zen. While the outbreak has turned attention at this time 
to JSTew Orleans, the common judgment of all intelligent 
and patriotic men is that, in a greater or less degree, every 
large city in this land has a condition of things somewhat 
similar in kind to that reported to exist in 'New Orleans. 
The recent anarchist troubles in Chicago, the events in 
Cincinnati, and our own July riots in 1863, with numerous 
lesser incidents, may be cited as proof that such is the 
fact. 

We are thus brought face to face with a condition of 
things that ought not to exist, and a natural inquiry arises. 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (FIRST REPORT) 149 

Why does it exist? Our government is a government 
of law and order. It is founded upon that rock, and its 
right to exist and command the respect of mankind de- 
pends upon its ability to maintain and preserve unim- 
paired that principle. It is also a government of equal 
rights, where the people elect their own rulers. To main- 
tain such a government presupposes intelligence on the 
part of the citizens and devotion to its principles. We 
have also boasted that this land is the asylum for the op- 
pressed of all nations. No one desires to abandon any of 
these proud positions, and yet it may be fairly questioned 
whether we have been discreet in the administration of 
them. It is known of all men that for many years we 
have been the asylum of the criminals and paupers of all 
nations. While we have taken into the body politic a vast 
body of honest and intelligent foreigners, who have ac- 
cepted American citizenship in good faith, and who have 
contributed their full share to the prosperity and glory 
of our country, we have also taken in such a flood of igno- 
rance, pauperism, and crime, and clothed it "with the full 
panoply of citizenship, that Americanism is being diluted 
and assailed in ways that are truly alarming. We are 
unable to assimilate so much ignorance, pauperism, and 
crime without great danger to the body politic. The illus- 
trations of this danger are innumerable all around us. All 
the better elements of this country are overtaxed in deal- 
ing with this flood. Our religious, benevolent, and educa- 
tional institutions are appalled in the presence of the de- 
mands upon them. 

The time is propitious to agitate these questions before 
it is too late, and see if something cannot de done to 
save our country and our institutions from the peril that 
menaces them. The courts should be rigid and conscien- 



150 NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (FIRST REPORT) 

tious in enforcing all the safeguards of the law against 
suffrage unworthily bestowed. The general government 
and the several States should exercise all the power they 
possess to keep out of the country crime and pauperism. 
If the present laws are not sufficient, others should be 
framed that will be sufficient, even if it becomes neces- 
sary to provide that every emigrant must produce a con- 
sular certificate of good character at home before he shall 
be permitted to become one of the family of the United 
States. 

It can be conclusively demonstrated that it is possible 
and easy to ascertain the previous character of any 
proposed emigrant. The means to procure this informa- 
tion can and should be provided by the government. 
!N^either the cost nor the difficulty of doing it bears any pro- 
portion to the importance and necessity of it for the good 
of our country. To postpone or flinch from meeting this 
issue is perilous and cowardly to a degree indefensible 
for this great people. The doctrine contended for is not 
applicable to any one nationality, but to all nationalities. 
It is the criminal classes and paupers of the world that we 
should defend ourselves from. 

The press and the public should take up and discuss this 
subject until a remedy shall be found that will rid us of 
foreign bandits, anarchists, criminals, and the pauper 
class that are such a menace to our country. 

We therefore recommend the adoption of the following 
resolutions : 

Besolved, That we call upon the general government 
and the several States to use all lawful means that they pos- 
sess to prevent the importation of criminals and paupers; 
that we call upon the courts to be rigid in administering 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (FIRST REPORT) 151 

the laws as to naturalization, and in resisting the impor- 
tunities of political parties to clothe improper persons with 
the rights of citizenship. 

Resolved, That we call upon the press and the public to 
agitate and discuss the subject of the importation of crimi- 
nals and paupers, to the end that if present laws are not 
sufficient to save our country from this great peril, others, 
may be enacted that shall be effectual to that end. 

New York, March 30, 1891. 



NEW ORLEANS EIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 

At the April meeting of this club this committee sub- 
mitted a report touching upon the evils of undesirable 
immigration. It was tentative, and intended to call atten- 
tion to the evil rather than to discuss the remedy. 

It is unsatisfactory to merely point out an evil without 
pressing the inquiry further and treating of a remedy. 
The presentation of the existence of the evil has received 
the most earnest and favorable attention of the public and 
the press, and we deem it within the spirit of the resolu- 
tions of the club to push the inquiry further to the question 
how the evil can be abated or limited. The very presence 
of undesirable immigrants in our country is a menace and 
a burden, but this evil is greatly aggravated when these 
undesirable immigrants are clothed with citizenship. 

The treatment of the whole subject seems naturally to 
arrange itself into two prominent divisions. The first one 
would relate to such laws and such policy on the part of 
the government as would prevent such a class coming into 
the country. Congress has entered upon this field, and has 
passed some laws tending in that direction, although, in our 
judgment, they are entirely inadequate to meet the exi- 
gencies of the case. 

The second remedy would pertain to the enactment of 
laws, or the enforcement of the present laws, so as to pre- 
vent these undesirable immigrants from becoming citi- 
zens, enjoying all the benefits which that word implies. 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 153 

Here further legislation is needed before full and ade- 
quate protection from this evil can be secured. 

We have bad for a long period of time upon the statute 
books laws that, if properly administered, would have 
saved us in the past from a most reckless and dangerous 
assault upon our institutions, and which should be here- 
after enforced in the spirit and intent of their enactment. 

A hasty review of the present law will aid in the dis- 
cussion of this question. 

The powers of Congress are stated in the Constitution 
of the United States in a few words. They are simply 
that " The Congress shall have power to establish an uni- 
form rule of naturalization." This is a broad, sweeping, 
and absolute power lodged there, and not vested in any 
State or in any other authority. 

The first law touching naturalization was passed in 
January, 1795. In April, 1802, the naturalization laws 
were revised, after an elaborate and exhaustive debate; 
and the third section of the act then passed is as follows : 

" Third. It shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of 
the court admitting such alien that he has resided in the 
United States five years at least, and within the State or 
Territory where such court is at the time held one year at 
least ; and that during that time he has behaved as a man 
of good moral character, attached to the principles of the 
Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the 
good order and happiness of the same ; but the oath of 
the applicant shall in no case be allowed to prove his 
residence." 

There are other provisions in this law, and also some 
subsequent amendments, not material to be considered in 
this paper. 



154 NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 

In the discussion of the naturalization laws, the fathers 
of the republic had a high appreciation of the value of 
American citizenship, and of the necessity of preserving it 
from being enjoyed by unworthy immigrants, although 
they were anxious to encourage immigration, and were 
willing to divide with proper immigrants the rights and 
privileges enjoyed by themselves. In discussing the ques- 
tion of time before full citizenship should be permitted, 
Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, urging a longer term of 
probation, asked : " What could he (the immigrant) know 
of the government the moment he landed ? Little or noth- 
ing. How, then, could he ascertain who was the proper 
person to legislate or judge of the laws ? Certainly, gentle- 
men would not pretend to bestow a privilege upon a man 
which he is incapable of using." 

Mr. Jackson, of Georgia, said that he conceived the 
present subject to be of high importance to the respecta- 
bility and character of the American name. The venera- 
tion he had for, and the attachment he had to, this country 
made him extremely anxious to preserve its good fame from 
injury. " I am clearly of the opinion that, rather than have 
the conmion class of vagrants, paupers, and other outcasts 
of Europe, we had better be as we are, and trust to the 
natural increase of our population for inhabitants." 

Mr. Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, was against " the indis- 
criminate admission of foreigners to the highest rights of 
human nature on terms so incompetent to secure society 
from being overthrown by the outcasts of Europe. Be- 
sides, the policy of settling the vacant territory by immi- 
gration is of doubtful nature." 

Mr. Sylvester, of 'New York, said : " It is neither for the 
honor nor interest of the United States to admit aliens to 
the right of citizenship indiscriminately." 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 155 

These extracts sufficiently show the trend of the 
thoughts of the fathers of the republic when they enacted 
the law quoted above. It was clearly their intent that 
an immigrant admitted to the high estate of American 
citizenship should be a person of character, of intelligence 
and honor, who so far appreciated the principles of our 
government as to have become attached to the same and 
well disposed to its good order and happiness. 

A difficulty was encountered in determining upon whom 
should devolve the inquiry as to fitness for citizenship. 
The federal judges were few, and the places for holding 
the courts widely separated. It was finally determined to 
lodge this trust in the hands of the courts established by 
the various States and Territories, in the belief that only 
honorable men would hold such positions, that they would 
be thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Constitution, 
that they would guard well the sacred trust imposed in 
them, and that they would admit none to citizenship ex- 
cept those who were qualified as prescribed in the act con- 
ferring the power upon the local courts. When these 
early legislators prescribed that " it shall be made to ap- 
pear, to the satisfaction of the court, that the applicant is 
qualified," they had in mind that each case should be in- 
quired into and established by competent proof in the 
same manner that any other fact is proven and established 
in a court; that the applicant should appear ready at every 
point, by satisfactory proof, to sustain every proposition as 
to his qualifications. They passed over from the federal 
courts to the State courts a trust that the judges should, 
as an act of judicial inquiry, ascertain that every person 
admitted to the rights implied in citizenship of the United 
States came up to the full standard. 

The act of admitting to citizenship in one State is an 



156 NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 

act admitting a person to citizenship in all the States. In 
fact, the act makes the applicant a citizen of the United 
States. A wrong done in the administration of this law 
in one place is a wrong done to the whole body of the citi- 
zens of the United States. The law as passed in 1802 
was defective in not providing that the rights of the United 
States should be represented and guarded. While the 
framers of this law clearly foresaw the evils of naturaliz- 
ing improper persons, they little dreamed that this trust, 
confided to the judiciary of the States and Territories, 
would be betrayed and disregarded by the men who would 
occupy these honorable positions. They presumed that 
the judges conducting such proceedings would be imbued 
with the spirit of Americanism, that they would guard 
jealously and without fear or favor the rights of the whole 
United States. Had they foreseen the shameless, reckless, 
and criminal disregard of this duty that has prevailed in 
this country in many courts in recent years, no such power 
would have been lodged with the judiciary of the States 
and Territories. While there have been numerous judges 
who have conscientiously and faithfully executed this 
trust, the great part of naturalization has taken place be- 
fore judges who have recklessly disregarded the faith that 
was placed in them, and who have done more than any 
other body of citizens to degrade and bring into contempt 
that which should have been sacred in their eyes. They 
have brought the country to a peril that is menacing its 
peace and prosperity, and causing more just alarm and 
anxiety for the permanence of good government than any 
other class of men. 

No words of denunciation are strong enough to char- 
acterize this shameful breach of trust. 'No indignation is 
too deep to be entertained against those who have per- 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 157 

petrated this great wrong. No language can describe in 
all its enormities the methods that have been pursued to 
reach this result. Time and the limits of this paper forbid 
giving a detailed account of the methods by which this 
crime against the American people has been perpetrated. 
A few well-known facts give point and support to the 
statement we have just made. In one year, in the city of 
New York, there were naturalized over 68,000 people, 
nearly the whole of this naturalization having taken place 
within the months of October and November. Witnesses 
and applicants were brought up and sworn in groups, and 
the judge, without the slightest knowledge as to the char- 
acter and fitness of the person who was being admitted, 
signed the papers, and the same were sealed by the clerk 
with all the rapidity that they could possibly command. 
Professional witnesses would swear to the character and 
length of residence of applicants, mthout the slightest re- 
gard to who they were or from whence they came. Courts 
have been held open from early in the morning until well 
towards midnight to carry out this great conspiracy and 
crime against the American people. Thousands of citi- 
zens have been made almost immediately after they had 
landed in our port, who were unable to speak or write the 
English language, whose fitness had been, in a pro forma 
manner, sworn to by professional witnesses; and yet 
judges, under the seal of the court, have certified that it 
appeared to their satisfaction that they were persons of 
good moral character, attached to the principles of the 
Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the 
good order and happiness of the same. 

The whole proceeding has been a rank offence against 
the people of the United States, in which the chief offender 
has been the judge before whom the proceedings have 



158 NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 

been conducted. The same judges would spend hours in 
settling a controversy of but trifling importance between 
two citizens, insisting upon the most exact legal proofs as 
to every material fact; and yet, when it came to the dis- 
charge of this higher and greater duty, which affects every 
inhabitant of this country, they have been either utterly 
oblivious to their duty or criminally reckless in the dis- 
charge of it. In determining a fact in a civil action, had 
they pursued the same course that they did in determining 
the facts as to citizenship, every one of them would have 
been impeached and driven from the bench. It is to be 
noted, to the everlasting credit of Louisiana, that as early 
as 1844 it caused the impeachment of Judge Eliott for 
frauds committed by him between 1841 and 1844 in the 
administration of the laws of naturalization. 

The time has come to call a halt. If in the future 
judges shall observe their duty and administer this im- 
portant law with the rectitude and judgment which per- 
tain to the discharge of their other judicial functions, it 
will do something towards arresting the evil that now 
menaces us from improper immigration. We do not un- 
dertake to apportion between the political parties their 
respective shares in this wrong. It is not a party question. 
It is a question of our country and its institutions. 

It is important to-day to appeal to the judges to consider 
well the oaths they have taken and to examine the law 
that they are to administer, so that every certificate they 
issue may be proof that they have, with an upright pur- 
pose and with a clear conscience, been judicially satisfied 
by competent proof that every alien they naturalize has 
the requisite good moral character, and is attached to the 
principles of the Constitution of the United States and 
well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same. 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 159 

Any failure to come up to this high standard is a failure 
to do a duty imposed upon them, and one that the people 
have a right to demand they shall not shirk or evade. 
If it shall be urged that this imposes upon them an amount 
of work that they are unable to dispose of with their other 
duties, it is no answer to the demand we make upon them. 
If applicants come in such numbers and at such times 
that each case cannot be carefully and conscientiously in- 
vestigated, it is not the fault of the judges. It is high 
time that the citizens of the United States have the benefit 
of the doubt, where there is doubt as to the fitness of a 
citizen, and that he be rejected until there are time and 
opportunity for the proper judicial investigation of his 
claim. It is not a matter of right that an alien be natural- 
ized, but it is a favor conferred upon him when he is fully 
qualified and is able to prove it in court by competent 
legal proofs, Nothing is asked of the judges that it is 
impossible for them to do. It is possible for them to refuse 
to act until they are judicially and legally satisfied in each 
case as to the fitness of the applicant. This the American 
people now require of them. 

The loss of some votes that might with propriety be 
secured to aliens bears no proportion to the injury to the 
country of admitting a mass of voters who are not entitled 
to this high privilege. The patriotism, the conscience, and 
the character of the judges should be above the pressure 
of political parties and political bosses. Anything less 
than that is a departure from the manhood and integrity 
that ought to pertain to their high office. The responsi- 
bility for this criminal negligence cannot justly be shifted 
to the shoulders of applicants for citizenship, nor is it 
manly or just to place it upon those of the political heeler 
or manager who is zealous for the success of his party 



160 NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 

or candidate. To the immigrant, if he can secure citizen- 
ship, it is an advantage, for it confers upon him certain 
rights and dignities that are desirable for him to possess ; 
but to the people of the United States it is of the highest 
importance that an unworthy person, who, by character 
and education, is totally unfitted to take part in our gov- 
ernment, shall be excluded. It is for this purpose that a 
judge, standing between an alien and the United States, 
is selected to pass upon the question, having due regard 
to the rights of the alien and of the United States. For a 
judge to fail to adjudicate upon this question with the 
same conscientious faithfulness with which he would de- 
termine any other question of fact before him would be 
an offence against the people of the whole United States. 

While our naturalization laws, if properly administered, 
would go a long way to check the evil that we are consider- 
ing, they still need radical revision and change. An appeal 
should be made to Congress to enter into the examination 
of this important question, and, so far as the enactment of 
law can effect the object, provide that hereafter no such 
crime shall be committed against American citizenship as 
has disgraced our history in the past. This question ap- 
peals to Americans of all parties, and with the same force 
to those naturalized citizens who have intelligently and 
worthily become part and parcel of our country as to those 
who are native born. It should not be considered from 
a partisan point of view. There should be an uprising of 
a great people, without distinction of parties, whose voice 
would be heard and listened to by the representatives of 
all the parties. The evil is one that pertains to the body 
politic. We may all differ and classify ourselves as Re- 
publicans and Democrats, but on this particular question 
we should know no party, no I^orth, no South, no East, 



NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 161 

no West, but should all stand together as American citi- 
zens to protect our common heritage. There will be party 
leaders in both parties who will imagine they see certain 
advantages or disadvantages in opposing the demand for 
the revision of the naturalization laws, and who will trim 
and pose accordingly; but if they can be made to under- 
stand that the American people are a unit on this question 
of the revision of the naturalization laws, there is no party 
or body of legislators who will not give a respectful hear- 
ing to the American people. • 

One important fact should be noted in considering this 
subject. The right of citizenship is not the same as the 
right of suffrage. In seventeen States and Territories the 
right of suffrage is conferred upon aliens who have only 
declared their intentions to become citizens. In such cases 
the State has lost control of the question of the fitness of 
electors who are foreign born. 

The remedy for this difficulty is not in the federal gov- 
ernment. Each State has the power of conferring suffrage 
within its own jurisdiction. None but citizens should have 
the right of suffrage. Good faith between the States re- 
quires that this should be the common rule of all the 
States. In about fifteen States electors for President, 
Vice-President, and representatives in Congress can be 
voted for by aliens who have only declared their intentions 
to become citizens, and so it may come to pass that un- 
naturalized foreigners who may never become citizens may 
determine who shall be President and Vice-President and 
who shall have control of the House of Representatives. 

This question should receive the serious and immediate 
consideration of those States who have conferred this ex- 
traordinary power upon aliens. 

The revision of the naturalization laws we are contend- 
11 



162 NEW ORLEANS RIOTS (SECOND REPORT) 

ing for will not help the case of these seventeen States and 
Territories which have so unwisely, as it seems to us, 
cheapened the right of suffrage. 

Your committee have given consideration to a method 
of appealing to Congress, irrespective of party, and believe 
that a petition circulated throughout the land and endorsed 
and approved by all classes of good citizens, native and 
foreign born, will be listened to, and that a proper and 
effective revision of these laws will be made. 

New York, April 28, 1891. 



I 



GOVEKNOK DAVID B. HILL'S STEAL OF THE 
SEIs^ATE OF THE STATE OF NEW YOKK 

Recent events in the political history of this State have 
been of such an unusual and extraordinary character as 
to demand a careful and critical examination. The feeling 
is universal that a great wrong has been committed against 
the people of the State by the seating of three senators 
who were not elected by the people of their respective 
districts. Somehow the laws have been evaded or swerved 
from their ordinary course in such a manner as to cause 
consternation and alarm in the minds of law-abiding citi- 
zens. The work has been so deftly done that few have 
'stopped to analyze the process and see where the laws have 
been violated, but all know and feel that there has been 
a violent and extraordinary result produced by those high 
in authority, a result never contemplated by the founders 
of our institutions, and a result not in accordance with the 
usual working of the same. 

The questions are asked on all hands, What is our gov- 
ernment worth ? What is to become of the ballot-box and 
of our system of government if such results can be lawfully 
worked out within the pale of the Constitution and the 
laws ? Are all the bulwarks of government that have been 
so carefully reared for more than one hundred years 
crumbling to their fall ? Are we travelling with acceler- 
ated speed toward that anarchy and confusion that always 
follow the assumption of unlawful powers by those high 
in authority? 



164 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OP THE STATE SENATE 

An examination of a few of the fundamental axioms 
upon which the American system of government is 
founded will enable us to point out with certainty the 
author and chief promoter of this wrong. 

First and foremost, the ballot-box is the recognized 
medium for the expression of the will of the people. The 
purity of the ballot-box is the chief cornerstone of our 
system of government. Hamilton said : 

" The fabric of the American empire ought to rest on 
the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams 
of power ought to flow immediately from that pure original 
fountain of all legitimate authority." 

It is only in this way that a free people express their 
will. At all events this is our only way. This final 
verdict has been in theory, and ought to be in fact, con- 
clusive as to rulers. Heretofore the greatest solicitude 
of intelligent and patriotic citizens has been to secure an 
honest vote and an honest count. It has generally been 
regarded that the greatest peril to our system of govern- 
ment has been the difiiculty of getting from the people 
an honest vote and an uncorrupted return of the same. 
Numerous laws and devices have been framed to guard 
well the ballot-box. The result has not been satisfactory. 
Never, until after the late election, has it been supposed 
in this Empire State that that result could or would be 
changed by those high in authority. 

Suddenly and unexpectedly we are brought face to face 
with the alarming fact that State officials of the highest 
standing could find ways and means to reverse the result 
of the ballot-box and were willing to commit this political 
crime. This is a new and unexpected result, one not 
naturally flowing out of the American system of govern- 



GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OP THE STATE SENATE 165 

ment; and the process should be examined carefully by 
every lover of his country, irrespective of party affiliation, 
to discover who are the authors and perpetrators of the 
crime. The founders of our republican form of govern- 
ment knew well the propensity of unscrupulous men, 
clothed with authority, to usurp power not conferred upon 
them, and to warp and twist all laws from their true mean- 
ing to compass personal and partisan ends. 

The people gave power to rulers with great caution and 
reluctance. They had studied deeply and carefully the 
political history of all nations that had preceded them. 
They understood perfectly that unrestrained ambition, 
cupidity, and usurpation were the causes that had wrought 
the ruin of nations; that the allurements of power have 
always been the menace of the liberties of the people. 

Madison said: 

" It will not be denied that power is of an encroach- 
ing nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained 
from passing the limits assigned to it." 

While the founders of the republic knew that a govern- 
ment is necessary, they provided a system of government 
with limited powers in their rulers, with checks and bal- 
ances to prevent usurpations. They provided a written 
Constitution, guarding the people's rights at every point. 

The fundamental idea of the American system of gov- 
ernment is that it shall be divided into three grand divi- 
sions — the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. 
It was intended that each should be absolutely indepen- 
dent of the other. This principle is imbedded in the 
scheme of the Constitution of the United States and in 
the constitution of each of the several States. 

Madison says that it is a " political maxim that the 



166 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 

legislative, executive, and judiciary departments ought to 
be separate and distinct. No political truth is certainly 
of greater intrinsic value or is stamped with the authority 
of more enlightened patrons of liberty." 
Jefferson said: 

" The concentration of these powers in the same hands 
is precisely the definition of despotic government." 

Again, Madison, after discussing the effect of this sepa- 
ration in preserving the liberties of the citizen, said : 

" For this reason that convention which passed the 
ordinance (the Constitution) laid its foundation on this 
basis, that the legislative, executive, and judiciary depart- 
ments should be separate and distinct." 

Six of the States that adopted constitutions after the 
Revolution, expressed this distinction in one form or an- 
other in their several constitutions. The most pointed 
instance was that of Massachusetts. The declaration of 
principles in that constitution has been continued without 
change to this day, and is as follows : 

" In the government of this commonwealth the legisla- 
tive department shall never exercise the executive and judi- 
cial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never 
exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of 
them ; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and 
executive powers, or either of them ; to the end that it may 
be a government of laws and not of men." 

At another time Madison said : 

" But the great security against a gradual concentration 
of the several powers in the same department consists in 



GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 167 

giving to those who administer each department the neces- 
sary constitutional means and personal motive to resist 
encroachments of the others. The provision for defence 
must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate 
to the danger of attack." 

Hamilton, in discussing the same subject of the three 
great divisions of power, says : 

" The judiciary, on the contrary, has no influence over 
either the sword or the purse, no direction either of the 
strength or of the wealth of society, and can take no active 
resolution whatever. It may truly be said to have neither 
force nor will, but merely judgment, and must ultimately 
depend upon the aid of the executive arm for the effica- 
cious exercise of this faculty. This simple view of the 
matter suggests several important consequences. It proves 
incontestably that the judiciary is, by comparison, the 
weakest of the three divisions of power; that it can never 
attack with success either of the other two; and that all 
possible care is requisite to enable it to defend itself 
against their attacks." 

Professor Bryce, in his great work entitled " The Ameri- 
can Commonwealth," in discussing the doctrine of the 
limited powers of the executive, says : 

" This is a consequence of the English doctrine that all 
executive power is strictly limited by the laws, and is, 
indeed, a cornerstone of English liberty." 

He further says, when discussing the American system 
of government : 

" Each organ of government — the executive, the legis- 
lative, the judiciary — is made a jealous observer and re- 



168 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 

strainer of the others. Since the people, being too numer- 
ous, cannot directly manage their affairs, but must commit 
them to agents, they resolved to prevent abuses by trust- 
ing each agent as little as possible, and subjecting him to 
the oversight of other agents who will harass and check 
him if he attempts to overstep his instructions." 

The English people point with pride to the fact that 
executive usurpations were practically stamped out be- 
tween the time of the ISTorman Conquest and 1688, when 
English liberty was established upon the rock of strict 
constitutional limits to executive power. 

The abuse of executive power was the thing dreaded by 
the founders of the republic. They had studied deeply 
the history of nations that preceded them. They exerted 
all their ingenuity and ability to guard and limit the 
powers of the people's servants when placed in authority, 
as the only way of preserving the liberties of the people. 

A capital offence by David B. Hill, while governor of 
this State, pending the controversy over the late election, 
was his unwarrantable invasion of the proper domain of 
the judiciary. It is not claimed nor pretended that he 
exercised judicial functions, as such, in a technical sense ; 
but the proper domain of the judiciary may be invaded in 
various ways. Anything which thwarts and defeats the 
working of that part of our system is a dangerous usurpa- 
tion and is revolutionary. 

We have the unusual spectacle of three senatorial seats 
occupied by men claiming to represent their respective 
districts, no one of whom received a majority or a plurality 
of the votes of his district. So far as those districts are 
concerned, the verdict of the ballot-box and the voice of 
the people have been ineffectual. Others than the people 



GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 169 

of the district have named and designated the senators to 
occupy those seats. 

The situation after the election was, in brief, as follows : 
There were seventeen Kepublican senators elected by the 
votes of a majority of the electors in their respective dis- 
tricts ; fourteen Democratic senators were, in like manner, 
elected in their respective districts, and one Independent 
senator, making a total of thirty-two senators. The consti- 
tution provides that " a majority of each house shall con- 
stitute a quormn to do business." Seventeen senators are 
a quorum. The problem presented to the Democrats was 
how to secure three Republican seats, so as to increase 
their number of senators to seventeen — just a quorum. 
Threats were made against a number of districts, but as up 
to date they have taken possession of only three, the 15th, 
the 25th, and 27th districts, these are the only districts 
we shall refer to in this paper. 

In the 15th district, commonly known in this contro- 
versy as Senator Dean's district, a majority of the super- 
visors, acting as a canvassing board, threw out for friv- 
olous reasons enough Dean votes to elect Osburn, the 
Democrat. The county clerk refused to sign the false re- 
turns. The supervisors appointed a clerk pro tern., by the 
name of Mylod, who signed the false returns, and the same 
were forwarded to Albany, and thus an apparent return 
from Dutchess County got on the files in the State offices. 

While the Supreme Court was proceeding with the in- 
vestigation of the case in the usual manner. Governor Hill 
removed the clerk of Dutchess County and appointed one 
subservient to his will. The judicial determination of 
the controversy was in favor of Dean. Then came the 
struggle to compel the clerk appointed by Governor HiU 
to sign and forward the true returns, as determined by 



170 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OP THE STATE SENATE 

the court. Finding no way of escape, the clerk mailed the 
returns to Albany on the afternoon of December 21st, 
and, hearing of a stay, he immediately followed to Albany 
and had an interview with Governor Hill at about seven 
o'clock on the morning of December 22d, and asked the 
governor what he should do. The governor referred him 
to Maynard, as counsel for the State Canvassing Board. 
Soon after that, and at about nine o'clock that morn- 
ing, Maynard took one copy of the true returns from the 
Comptroller's Office. Eice, the secretary of State, deliv- 
ered a copy of the true returns in his office to the county 
clerk, and an office boy in Governor Hill's employ al- 
lowed the county clerk to take from the governor's table 
a third copy, all of which copies were carried away by the 
county clerk of Dutchess County, who had applied to Gov- 
ernor Hill at seven o'clock that morning for direction in 
the new situation. It has since been judicially decided 
that these three true returns were a part of the lawful 
files of the State at the time they were removed. 

The situation then was that the former false returns 
remained alone on the files. 

Turning now to the 25th district. Peck, the Republican, 
had a fair majority of 373 votes. In some of the election 
districts the clerk had sent ballots intended for one district 
to another district. This was held to be a fatal error by 
the Court of Appeals. Whole districts were disfran- 
chised, so that about fifteen hundred electors had no voice 
in electing their senators. It chanced that the Republi- 
cans were in the majority in the disfranchised districts, 
and Nichols, the Democrat, got the seat to which Peck 
was elected. 

Going now to the 27th district, Sherwood, the Republi- 
can, was elected by about 1,700 majority. The returns 



GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 171 

sent to Albany showed him elected, but he was ineligible 
by reason of holding another office. 

Coming now to the State Canvassing Board, let us see 
how they managed their part of the drama. They had 
no difficulty in the 25th district in giving to Nichols, the 
Democrat, the seat to which Peck, the Republican, was 
elected. No blame can attach to them for this act under 
the decision of the Court of Appeals, however unjust it 
was to the district to have a man seated to represent them 
who was never elected. 

The effect of this was to raise the number of Demo- 
cratic seats from fourteen to fifteen and reduce the Repub- 
lican seats to sixteen. The Democrats were still two seats 
short of the coveted quorum of seventeen senators. 

The State Canvassing Board had returns before them 
showing a Republican elected by over 1,700 majority in 
the 27th district. Knowing that they had nothing to do 
but to canvass returns, and could not go behind them to 
consider Sherwood's eligibility, they refused to give a 
certificate to anybody. The effect of this was to take from 
the Republicans one seat, reducing them to fifteen, but did 
not for the time being give the Democrats a seat. 

In fact, for the time being, and pending the organization 
of the Senate soon to take place, that seat was vacant. 

The Dutchess district, the 15th, was the pivotal district. 
A true and honest return had been made under the orders 
of the court: it had been dulv sent under the orders of 
the court, and arrived in the rooms of the governor, 
the secretary of State, and comptroller; and it was just 
here that the convenient tool appointed by Hill as clerk 
of Dutchess County had performed the important and 
delicate act to consummate the scheme to deprive the 
State of its chosen senators, the details of which are stated 



173 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 

above. It would have been awkward for the State can- 
vassers to have disregarded the true returns from Dutchess 
County, had they been on their files at the time they were 
making their canvass. After the conference of the county 
clerk with Governor Hill that morning in Albany, these 
true returns all disappeared, being taken from the State 
offices by the clerk of Dutchess County, thus defeating 
all the efforts of the judiciary to determine who was elected 
in the 15th district, and the State canvassers canvassed 
the false returns that bore the judicial stamp of fraud and 
gave the seat to a Democrat. This gave the Democrats 
sixteen seats, the Republicans fourteen seats, and one 
Independent Eepublican. Thus closed the State canvass- 
ers' work. When the Senate assembled there were thirty- 
one senators and one vacancy — Democrats sixteen, Re- 
publicans fourteen, and an Independent. 

The Independent voted with the Democrats to organize 
the Senate. The Senate immediately filled the vacancy 
in the 27th district with the Democrat, who lacked over 
1,700 votes of being elected, and the coveted quorum of 
seventeen Democratic senators was secured and the Senate 
made solidly Democratic. 

An honest administration of the law called for a new 
election in at least two of the districts, the 15th and the 
27th; in the 15th because of the death of Dean, and in 
the 27th because of the ineligibility of the man elected. 

There were numerous actors in this drama of political 
crime, and it is not possible, within the limits of this paper, 
to discuss all the phases of the conspiracy and to point out 
the part which each actor performed. 

It was possible and proper, touching the legal status 
of these three several districts, to have disposed of them 
through the action of the judiciary, without the interven- 



GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 173 

tion of the governor, in the proceedings being carried on 
by the judges. Judge Gray states, in his opinion in the 
Eice case, that : 

" The constitution provides for elections by ballot, and 
the legislature enacts laws respecting such elections and 
prescribes the mode of declaring and certifying the result. 
For the settlement of contests over elections courts exist, 
with adequate powers to investigate the causes of com- 
plaints, and for that end to take proofs and to adjudge 
accordingly." 

While this legal and constitutional method was pro- 
gressing in the Dutchess district, Governor Hill, in a sum- 
mary and extraordinary way, removed from office the 
clerk of Dutchess County, and placed in power a man sub- 
servient to his will. He knew that the court was then 
investigating the election controversy at that place; that 
it had ample power to examine and adjudicate upon the 
rights of the contestants, and to cause that judicial deter- 
mination to be transmitted in due form to the proper au- 
thorities at Albany. Fearing that this result might not 
be satisfactory to himself, the governor removes the for- 
mer clerk and appoints as clerk a man whom he could and 
did afterward use to defeat and thwart the judiciary. It 
was Governor Hill's acts, by his appointed clerk of 
Dutchess County, that prevented the judicial determina- 
tion in that district ripening in the ordinary course into 
a final determination in favor of the election of Dean as 
senator, and mthout Governor Hill's intervention the pres- 
ent incumbent, Walker, could never have taken his seat 
in the Senate. 
In the Onondaga district, while the court was proceed- 



174 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 

ing to maintain its dignity and to enforce obedience to 
its orders by punishing, by fine and imprisonment for 
thirty days, a supervisor for contempt of court in not 
sending back returns for correction, Governor Hill again 
showed his contempt for the judiciary by immediately 
pardoning the offender against the authority and dignity 
of the court, so that his incarceration did not exceed two 
hours. 

While it is true that in the Onondaga district the acts of 
Governor Hill did not in the sequel lead to so important 
results as in the Dutchess district, that does not soften in 
any manner nor abate one iota from the gravity of his 
offence in interfering with the judiciary. 

Wherever there were legal proceedings in this contro- 
versy the hand of Governor Hill was seen to defeat and 
thwart those proceedings whenever and wherever they 
were supposed to be adverse to his interests and to the 
interests of his party. 

He seems to have a great regard for judicial decisions 
in his favor, but great contempt for judicial decisions that 
are against his schemes. The regard he expresses for 
the decisions in his favor does not count for that true re- 
gard for the judiciary which is due from the executive for 
an independent and coordinate branch of the government. 
Our charge is not that he thwarted and defied all judicial 
decisions. The gravamen of the charge is that he thwarted 
and defied some of them. 

The very thing which the fathers of the republic tried to 
prevent has happened in this State, through the interven- 
tion of Governor Hill. He has disturbed that balance 
of power which is essential to the working of a govern- 
ment of laws for a free people. He has made the govern- 
ment of this State, in the substantial language of the con- 



GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OP THE STATE SENATE 175 

stitution of Massachusetts, a government of men but not 
of laws. 

It is a serious matter when an ambitious man, high in 
authority, thwarts and defeats the ordinary processes of 
the courts and robs the people of the sacred right of choos- 
ing their own rulers. It is an offence which ought not to 
be overlooked by a free and self-respecting people. 

It is not clauned that Governor Hill performed every 
act which brought about this wrong. Many men of dif- 
ferent grades were cooperating with him, and it would 
take a history of considerable length to detail the acts of 
each person. The purpose of this paper is to focalize the 
attention of the public upon the acts performed by Gov- 
ernor Hill, that their attention may not be diverted to acts 
performed by his co-conspirators. Without his active par- 
ticipation in the great crime it would never have been at- 
tempted. Governor Hill is responsible and chargeable 
with the whole wrong, i^o one man performs every act 
in a conspiracy. Different parts are to be performed by 
different persons. When we see several persons doing 
different things in a consj^iracy, but all acting in harmony 
to produce a result, which result is finally consummated, 
the conclusion is inevitable that each one understood the 
part the other was to perform. Each actor is held respon- 
sible for the act of the others, and is chargeable with the 
knowledge of the parts the others are to play. It is par- 
ticularly so of a leader in a conspiracy. When a leader 
boldly and vigorously performs his part, which completes 
the whole conspiracy, he cannot escape the charge of being 
a guilty party to the conspiracy in all its parts. Men co- 
operating for a general result cannot escape the odium of 
conspiracy by pointing to somebody else as having per- 
formed some of the acts. It was by the acts of Governor 



176 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 

Hill and those associated with him that at least two of the 
three seats are now occupied in the Senate by persons not 
chosen by a majority or a plurality of the voters in those 
districts. 

The final consummation of the political crime came 
when the State Canvassing Board canvassed the fraudu- 
lent returns in the Dutchess County case, well knowing 
that there were then in existence true returns that gave 
the seat to Dean, The members of the board may live long 
enough to repent of the great crime, but they will not live 
long enough to remove the stain from the fair reputations 
they had possessed before this crime was committed. 
Charity for them can go no further than to hope that they 
did not appreciate the enormity of their offence against 
the American system of government and against the 
American people. The shame and the humiliation of this 
is a part of the history of the State of ISTew York. It will 
be dealt with hereafter by the people as a serious political 
crime. It is a matter of solemn import to the people. If 
it shall become established as a part of our political history 
that the fruits of the ballot-box shall be snatched away 
from the people by those high in authority as their rulers, 
then elections are a farce, and the government becomes the 
spoil of ambitious partisans who may be clothed with 
power. 

It is of the highest importance that we turn back and 
contemplate the system of government founded by the 
fathers of the republic, and study and ponder deeply the 
principles upon which it is based, before it is too late to 
rescue that system from destruction. This matter comes 
home with peculiar force to the people of the State of 
'New York. The shame and degradation are ours. 

In a larger and broader sense it is important for the 



GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 177 

people of the United States to study well and carefully 
the character and conduct of Governor Hill while acting 
as governor of this State. He is now posing as a candidate 
for President of the United States. The people of the 
United States should calmly and deliberately determine 
whether they are prepared to entrust the government of 
these United States to a man who is so regardless of the 
principles upon which our form of government is founded. 
It is not too much to say that such a man is a dangerous 
man to entrust with power, where that power can be reck- 
lessly used to promote his ends and defeat a coordinate 
branch of the government. 

It is not believed that the Democratic party have yet, 
as a whole, ceased to love and revere the institutions of 
our country. In this State there is a large body of them 
who are sensitive and who have resented the innovations 
of Governor Hill in a simple matter of party usage — in 
calling a State convention — showing that they appreciate 
the dangerous effects of transgressing, even in party usage, 
the practices and rules of a party. How much greater, 
then, is the offence of this man in bending all the great 
powers of a governor of a State to the work of defeating 
the verdict of the people at the ballot-box, and injuring 
and impeding the progress of the courts of the State while 
investigating contested claims arising under the laws of 
the election ? While we admire the spirit of those Demo- 
crats who resent the usurpations of Governor Hill in the 
routine of party politics, it would have been a pleasing 
spectacle, and one creditable to those who were assembled 
at Cooper Union, if they had taken occasion to devote a 
part of their time to the arraignment of Governor Hill 
for his invasion of the domain of the judiciary. It would 

have shown them not only to have been loyal partisans in 
12 



178 GOVERNOR HILL'S STEAL OF THE STATE SENATE 

their party, but also devoted lovers of the institutions of 
their country. It is unfortunate that those who protested 
against the conduct of Governor Hill as a politician should 
have laid themselves open to the suspicion that they were 
willing to avail themselves of the benefits of his wrongful 
acts without condemning him for his offences against the 
ballot-box and judiciary. 

Washington, in his first inaugural, said : " The destiny 
of the republican model of government is justly considered 
as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment 
entrusted to the hands of the American people." 

The question of the hour is, Do the people of this State, 
and of the United States, possess sufficient patriotism and 
love for our American system of government to defend 
it from such encroachments upon its fundamental prin- 
ciples as have been made upon them by Governor Hill ? 

We, therefore, recommend the adoption of the 
following : 

Resolved, That this club accepts and adopts the fore- 
going report as the report of the club. 

ISTew York, February 23, 1892. 



HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 

The great importance of the Hawaiian Islands to this 
country is in danger of being lost sight of by the public. 
There was an intuitive appreciation of their importance 
and a general approval of their acquisition w^hen the op- 
portunity to do so first presented itself. The delay in rati- 
fying the treaty recently negotiated between the United 
States and the commissioners of the provisional govern- 
ment of the islands is causing no little anxiety in the minds 
of those who have considered the subject carefully. 

The question presents itself in two aspects: first, as to 
the benefits their acquisition will be to this nation, and 
second, as to the menace it will be to us to have their con- 
trol fall into the hands of another nation. These two 
questions may well be considered together in the few sug- 
gestions we make by way of argument in favor of their 
acquisition. All the facts of the situation are not indis- 
putably known to the public, but enough is known to safely 
lead a prudent mind to the conclusion that the time is now 
ripe for the annexation of the islands, and that such an- 
nexation is very desirable for the United States. While 
we are dealing with a provisional government, it is a de 
facto government recognized by substantially all the 
civilized governments of the world. It is the only govern- 
ment on the islands. Whatever may be the right or wrong 
of the overthrow of the monarchy, it is an accomplished 
fact. Revolutions in governments seldom follow on the 
strict lines of moralists. They are generally attended with 



180 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 

some wrongs to somebody, and in the affairs of nations it 
is not the practice, nor is it practicable, to go behind revo- 
hitions to inquire deeply into the causes of the same, or 
to attempt to make right any possible wrong that may have 
been committed. Governments deal with recognized gov- 
ernments. If we acquire the islands it will not be by 
force and conquest, but by the consent of two govern- 
ments empowered to deal with each other. Under such 
circumstances, the acquisition of the islands will follow 
the traditional policy of this government. Florida was 
acquired mainly because it was not desirable to have a 
Spanish colony located there. The Louisiana purchase 
was made largely to prevent that vast territory falling 
into the hands of the British government. While the ele- 
ment of the value of these acquisitions weighed heavily 
in the transaction, the question of territorial protection 
was a great factor. The acquisition of the Hawaiian 
Islands presents itself in the same dual light. In the 
event of war it would be a menace to our interests and 
possessions on the Pacific Coast to have them fall under 
the dominion of any other power. In our late war we 
had abundant experience with so-called neutral ports near 
our Atlantic seaboard. The acquisition of the islands will 
be of great value to our growing commerce on the Pacific 
Ocean in times of peace. Already our commerce on the 
Pacific is menaced in many ways. ]^o opportunity to 
strengthen our hold upon the vast lines of trade that are 
so rapidly developing there should be lost. Such chances 
generally come but once, and, if lost then, may be lost 
forever. 

The public mind has not risen to an appreciation of the 
trend of events in these days in the matter of warfare. 
We may safely rest in peace and feel secure from any 



HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 181 

army of men that may, under any circumstances, attack 
us on land. No army could, from any possible source, 
effect a lodgment here that we could not easily cope with, 
but is this the case in the event of an attack from the sea ? 
No thoughtful man would dare for one moment to affirm 
it. The navies of the world are slowly but surely increas- 
ing in power and efficacy. There is now no menace of at- 
tack apparent. Numerous arguments of the most forceful 
kind, based upon policy and the self-interest of other na- 
tions, can be and are advanced against the probability of 
a naval attack by any nation. Is it quite safe to rest in 
peaceful security, depending upon right and justice, while 
our Atlantic and Pacific coasts are vulnerable to attack 
from the sea ? Should any opportunity be lost to add any- 
thing to their security that we can? Eeason as we may 
about the probability of such an attack, we are not safe 
until we make ourselves secure in the event of an attack. 
In the history of the world, when the time has been ripe 
for startling events, the movements have been rapid and 
unexpected to the average observer. The men to lead the 
movements have almost always sprung up suddenly from 
obscurity. No one could have foretold the genius and 
ambition of Napoleon ten years before all the thrones of 
Europe were tottering to their fall. Four years was long 
enough to raise our own Grant from obscurity to the rank 
of the first captain of his age. The Franco-Prussian war 
seemed to break out suddenly from trifling causes, with 
startling results. Because nothing seems likely to happen 
to involve us in a great naval contest, it by no means 
follows that such a contest may not come upon us. Im- 
portant international events may be ripening faster than 
we think. Ambition and the love of glory may be smoul- 
dering now in the breast of an unknown genius of war, 



182 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 

who and where we do not know. We may have to meet 
the brunt of a blow from the sea, when we do not know. 
No nation has placed such tempting prizes of rich cities 
by the sea as we have, and left them unprotected. Let 
any ambitious naval nation once get possession of our 
chief seaboard cities, and they would sap our resources and 
throttle our enterprises. No hamlet of our inland country 
is so remote as not to suffer from such a calamity. Let no 
one in this broad land say, " This question does not affect 
me ; I am not on the seaboard." The inland parts of our 
country have an interest in the question hardly second to 
that of the seaboard. The whole country has a common 
interest in this question, and all should look at it broadly, 
with a view to probable coming events in this rapidly mov- 
ing age. 

When Cato declared to the Romans, with repeated and 
increasing emphasis, " Delendo est Carthago! " it fired the 
Eoman heart, and the motto and war-cry of the army be- 
came, " Carthage must be destroyed ! " and Carthage was 
destroyed and its very foundations dug up. Carthage was 
across the sea, more remote from Rome than many of 
our cities are from powerful seafaring nations, when we 
take into account the improved methods of modern navi- 
gation. How long shall we hold out these tempting, un- 
protected prizes of rich cities by the sea, inviting the am- 
bition and cupidity of naval powers? Some progress has 
been made within the last ten years in meeting this 
condition of things, but it has been painfully slow, espe- 
cially in the matter of coast defences on the land. There 
are already too many powerful naval stations near our 
Atlantic Coast for our comfort. We should not repeat the 
folly on the Pacific Coast that we have been guilty of com- 
mitting on the Atlantic Coast, of neglecting an oppor- 



HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 183 

tunity to secure, in the most substantial manner, important 
commercial advantages and a valuable naval station on 
that coast. Our interests on the Pacific Coast will be much 
better conserved by our annexing all the islands than it 
possibly can be by a concession for a naval station on one 
of the islands. ^ 

An objection has been urged to the annexation of the 
islands that somehow it is an invasion of the rights of the 
lately deposed reigning family and a wrong to them. The 
appeal for the rights of a reigning family to rule a nation 
does not have much force w^ith an American. The in- 
herent and divine right to rule by any sovereign is denied 
by us. The right to be ruled by a sovereign, if desired 
by the people of any nation, we recognize. When the 
people throw off the rule of a sovereign, it accords with our 
ideas of the people's rights. If a sovereign is deposed, 
he is, like other human beings, unfortunate, from his 
standpoint, in losing something he could not hold, but 
that something was a thing he had no inherent right to 
hold. 

When a people find it for their interest to throw off the 
incubus of a sovereign rule, to an American they are 
simply asserting a right inherent in the people to rule 
themselves, and dislodging an unnatural and unjust claim 
of an individual. 

An objection has been urged to the character of the 
population upon the islands as not a desirable population 
to be incorporated into the body politic. There is not 
much force in this objection. While it may be true that 
the population is such that it is not desirable to confer 
upon it the elective franchise, or to give the islands a 
voice in our national government; yet it is a fact that dur- 
ing our entire political history we have had abundant ex- 



184 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 

perience in the matter of government for people not repre- 
sented in the general government. 

The District of Columbia and the nmnerous territorial 
governments that we have had from time to time are illus- 
trations of the flexibility and adaptability of our system 
of government to the exigencies and facts of any case. 
It will be easy to frame a government adapted to the best 
interests of the islands, if they are annexed, and time and 
experience will develop the form of government best 
adapted to their wants. 

A further objection has been made to the acquisition of 
the islands that there are certain private interests to be 
conserved by the annexation, and especially that the sugar 
interest will be promoted by reason of the present laws 
providing a bounty on that product. If we assume that 
the motives of some of the promoters of the revolution are 
not altogether disinterested, and that there are some pri- 
vate interests that they hope to conserve, the objections on 
this score are worthy of but little consideration, for the 
reason that the whole matter will be a subject of regulation 
by Congress at some future time, if the provisions of the 
treaty of annexation have not already sufficiently guarded 
this point. 

There seems to be no doubt that the interests of the 
people of the islands will be greatly promoted by annexa- 
tion to the United States, and there seems to be no reason- 
able doubt that in future years the interests of the United 
States will be greatly promoted by the annexation of the 
islands. 

Therefore, Resolved, That the Union League Club ap- 
proves of the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, and 
earnestly recommends the ratification of the pending 



HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 185 

treaty between the commissioners of the provisional gov- 
ernment of these islands and the United States. 

Resolved, That it recommends to each senator in the 
Senate of the United States that he use all honorable 
means to procure the ratification of the treaty as a measure 
of great and lasting benefit to this country. 

I^Tew York, February 28, 1893. 



ELECTIONS OE 1893 

Important elections are about to be held in this and 
other States of the Union. The Democratic party is about 
to ask for an endorsement by the people at the polls. 
Every election in some measure reflects the sentiments 
of the public as to the party in power in national and 
State affairs. The present crisis in our affairs makes a 
proper occasion for the presentation of practical sugges- 
tions for the consideration of the public. 

These are not times when individuals, as statesmen or 
leaders in parties, need be seriously considered. We do 
not underestimate the importance of able statesmen or 
brilliant leaders on either side in the two great parties. 
The individuality of any person, however, plays a minor 
part in the great controversy, except as it may contribute 
to the triumph of the principles and policy of one party or 
the other. A great leader may lead a great party to suc- 
cess; but while success may redound to his glory, the de- 
sirability of that success will depend entirely upon the 
party behind him. The trend of the principles of the party 
will finally be felt by the country. Good will not come to 
this country from the triumph of a party whose principles 
always lead to disaster. 

It has sometimes been said by the friends of the Demo- 
cratic party that it has a " genius for government." The 
facts of history would seem to establish that, on the con- 
trary, it has a genius for misgovernment. Democrats love 
to refer to some of the fathers of the republic as the 



ELECTIONS OP 1893 187 

founders of their party, and point to that fact as evidence 
of their respectability and ability to govern. It is im- 
possible to match the principles of the fathers referred to 
with the principles and policy of the Democratic party of 
the last sixty years. All will agree that the Democratic 
party governed the country for twelve years under Jack- 
son and Van Buren, from 1829 to 1841. At the end of 
this era of government by Democratic genius, the country 
was brought to a most deplorable state of distress. In the 
midst of this distress the country voted to turn the party 
out of power at the general election of 1840. From 1840 
to 1852, the succeeding twelve years, the country voted 
alternately for the Democratic and Whig parties, and the 
country had a mixed policy and a mixed prosperity. From 
1853 to 1861 the country had another long era of control 
by the Democratic party. The result of that term of 
power on the part of this party is known by all. The 
financial distress of 1857 was one of the events pertain- 
ing to it. The end of Buchanan's administration was 
financial distress, a bankrupt treasury, and a threatened 
civil rebellion. Such was the condition of the country 
after eight years continuous Democratic control that the 
people again turned them out of power. While out of 
power the party opposed almost every important measure. 
It embarrassed the government while putting down the 
Eebellion; it opposed the constitutional amendments, the 
resumption of specie payments, and many other most 
salutary measures. ISTot until 1893, thirty-two years after 
the Democratic party went out of power, was it again in- 
trusted with full power in the federal government. 

The first term of President Cleveland was not a period 
of Democratic control, because that party did not control 
both branches of Congress and could not impress its policy 



188 ELECTIONS OF 1893 

on the country. That term was spent in administering 
laws then on the statute books, placed there by the Repub- 
lican party. At the time of the last change of parties the 
country was on the high tide of prosperity. Its condition 
was unlike the conditions that prevailed when the changes 
of 1840 and 1860 were made. Then, in each case, the 
country was in the throes of agony from Democratic mis- 
rule. This time the change was made by a new genera- 
tion who had had no experience of the evil tendencies of 
Democratic government. They seemed to look upon a 
change of party in the government as a gala-day frolic, a 
mere holiday outing, utterly oblivious of the tremendous 
consequences to flow from such a mad frolic. Warnings 
and arguments produced no effect. The Democratic party 
was placed in power by an overwhelming vote. 

This party seems to have a strange affinity for all the 
odds and ends of political principles that spring up in vari- 
ous parts of the country. We have seen the Democratic 
governor of a sister State pardon anarchists who had been 
convicted of a foul crime against society, and the judge 
and jury who tried them denounced by this governor in a 
most shameful manner, as if the judge and jury were the 
real criminals. While this party does not formally adopt 
all these strange doctrines, yet the presence of these frag- 
mentary parties in the Democratic camp increases the 
hosts of its voters at the polls. This does not make a har- 
monious party with which to carry on the government, as 
is well illustrated by the present position of affairs in 
Washington. 

The immediate question of the greatest importance 
to the country is the repeal of the so-called Sherman 
Bill. This law was placed on the statute books to re- 
lieve the country from the evils of the Bland Silver Bill, 



ELECTIONS OF 1893 189 

which was threatening to engulf the country in financial 
ruin. 

Whether the Sherman law was a wise or unwise act at 
the time may be a debatable question. It was thought 
that it would arrest the continued coinage of silver, and 
so, in a measure, meet the evils of the Bland Bill. Experi- 
ence, however, has shown that the necessities of the coun- 
try require its repeal. The President, in response to the 
demands of the business interests of the country, called 
Congress in extra session to consider this one question. 
Both branches of Congress being Democratic, harmony 
would ordinarily be expected to exist in the legislative and 
executive branches of the government; and yet what a 
strange si^ectacle is presented ! 

The first measure of this administration is without hope 
of being passed, except with the support of Republicans. 
This administration, at its very outset, is powerless to 
carry this measure with the votes of its own party. The 
Republicans must stand by the administration or it fails. 
To-day, the sole hope of the country is in the steady pa- 
triotism of the Republican minority in Congress. 

While the present depression is undoubtedly to some ex- 
tent due to the policy of purchasing silver on behalf of the 
government, another factor of almost equal importance, 
and, in the opinion of many, of greater importance, is the 
threatened changes in the tariff law. 

What the Democratic party has been unable to do on the 
silver question, and what it threatens to do with reference 
to the tariff, has brought the country to its present condi- 
tion, and is a good illustration of the effect of Democratic 
control upon the country. It is in harmony vdth its his- 
tory when in power, and coincides with the results which 
I usually flow from its advent to power. It does not seem 



190 ELECTIONS OF 1893 

a harsh or unjust conclusion, after three trials of Demo- 
cratic control within a period of sixty years, to hold that 
the Democratic party lacks the capacity to govern the 
country well, or that their principles of government are 
such as to lead to inevitable disaster. 

In our annual report, made to this club in January last, 
we took occasion to say, referring to the tariff policy ad- 
vocated by Republicans : 

" The record and history of this club have been one of 
unfaltering support of this important and beneficent na- 
tional policy. No believer in this policy can have his be- 
lief in the same shaken by the temporary defeat which we 
have sustained. The history of the country shows that 
prosperity has always attended it when its fiscal policy has 
been framed on the lines of protection, and depression and 
distress have followed when its fiscal policy has been 
framed on the lines of low tariff or free trade. Thirty 
years of unparalleled prosperity is the record made by the 
Republican policy. During that time a new generation 
has grown up who have seen fit to be guided by theorists 
rather than to follow the sure lamp of experience. Those 
now living who have had experience of Democratic ad- 
ministration of governmental financial policy are compara- 
tively few. If the Democratic party applies to our fiscal 
policy the principles it professes, this new generation 
will soon have the experience that will enable it also to 
appreciate the wide difference between Democratic and 
Republican doctrine on the tariff. Assuming that the 
Democrats in good faith apply the principles that they 
taught, we may confidently look forward to a renewal of 
the great discussion, when we will have not only our his- 
tory, but the then present experience, to illustrate and en- 



ELECTIONS OF 1893 191 

force the wisdom of protection to American industries as 
the true American policy." 

We do not at this time propose to discuss the tariff prin- 
ciples of the Democratic party. This club, during years 
that have passed, has contributed its full share to that dis- 
cussion. We do not abate one jot or tittle from what we 
have heretofore said on that all-important question. We 
are now in the presence of a proposed practical applica- 
tion of the principle of our opponents, and the first effects 
are upon us — manufactories seriously checked, business 
prostrated, laborers either unemployed or employed at re- 
duced wages. Such are some of the effects that attend the 
resumption of power by the Democratic party. While the 
country is suffering for want of legislation to give life to 
its business and industrial interests, that party, true to 
its instincts, seems more intent to break down the safe- 
guards around the ballot-boxes, for party ends, than it is to 
promote the interests of business men and laborers. If 
the federal election law needs amending in the direction 
of guarding more carefully the ballot-box, that might 
justify taking action at this time on that question; but 
such a course is not good Democratic policy. 

If we turn to the State we find the same party with a 
" genius for government " in power in the State and 
municipal governments; and what a spectacle — a ma- 
chine government where about six men direct the affairs 
of the State ! A Democratic State Convention to nominate 
ofiicers is a farce. Manhood and deliberation in selecting 
candidates for offices have no place in their party councils. 

We have witnessed the will of the people, declared 
through the ballot-box, defeated by the great steal of the 
senate of this State. This political crime was planned by 



193 ELECTIONS OF 1893 

the then governor and carried put by the assistance of 
many high officials in the Democratic State government. 
The law of the case, as decided by the courts, was defied 
and disregarded. The very citadel of free government 
was surrendered and degraded by those who should have 
been its stoutest defenders. A sufficient time has elapsed 
for party passions to have subsided, and intelligent citizens 
ought to look at the great steal in its true light, as a colossal 
crime against free government. We have witnessed the 
non-partisan character of the Police Board of this city 
changed to a Democratic partisan board. The legislature, 
installed in power by fraud, has made the Boards of In- 
spectors of Elections in the city of I^ew York Democratic 
by reducing the number from four to three. These are 
appointed by a Democratic Police Board, and two are al- 
ways, by law. Democrats, and only one can be a Eepubli- 
can; whereas, before, two were required to belong to each 
party. We have seen this same legislature change the 
charter of the city of Buffalo so as to give the control of 
the city to partisan bosses. 

The chief purpose of the leaders of the party seems to 
be to break down all the safeguards around the ballot- 
box as a means of perpetuating their power. The most 
barefaced frauds have been practised for years by that 
party in the illegal naturalization of foreigners. It seems 
to have lost all sense of the dignity and importance of 
American citizenship. It wages constant warfare upon the 
very foundation of free government by degrading the 
elective franchise and defeating its results. 

We have seen the State gerrymandered for party pur- 
poses; and, in some cases, so outrageously done as to call 
for the interposition of the courts to correct the evil. We 
have seen State taxes increased without corresponding 



ELECTIONS OF 1893 193 

benefits to the people. In municipal governments a few 
bosses dictate everything. Men who a few years ago were 
without visible means of support, and who have since ap- 
parently had only politics to do with, are now rolling in 
wealth. A thoughtful, self-respecting people should ask 
themselves how can these things be? The party in this 
State allies itself with every interest that is antagonistic 
to good morals and good government. It draws its suste- 
nance largely from such sources. If the present condi- 
tion of things is to go on, then virile patriotism and Ameri- 
can institutions are in a process of decay. 

There is one sovereign remedy for this state of things 
in the nation and in the State — stalwart manhood at the 
ballot-box. If those who voted for a change last fall just 
to have a " change " are still satisfied, then they should 
vote to continue the Democratic party in power. If those 
who have voted with the Democratic party for State and 
municipal officers are satisfied, they, too, should continue to 
vote as they have. A change of men of the same party will 
do no substantial good. Experience has demonstrated this. 
It is the trend of the party and the application of its prin- 
ciples that does the mischief. ISTo man is strong enough 
to resist successfully the force of his party. Parties are 
like great armies, all marching in the one direction. Indi- 
viduals in the parties may be better or worse in particular 
cases, but all march together in the same direction. The 
number of persons who hold office as compared with the 
great body of the citizens is small, and it is not very mate- 
rial who the individuals are who hold them, so far as the 
emoluments go; but all are equally interested in good gov- 
ernment and its results. It is this latter consideration that 
makes it so vitally important that the voter should study 
the policy and trend of a gTeat party. Political theories 
13 



194 ELECTIONS OF 1893 

are well to discuss, but they must all be brought to the 
final test of experience. Those whose business and wages 
have already suffered enough to teach the true inwardness 
of Democratic government we can advise to vote that 
party out of every place of power within the reach of 
their ballots. The defeat of that party in any contest will 
be salutary. It will dislodge the representatives of the 
party from places of power, as preliminary to the great 
contest to wrest power from the party in Washing-ton, 
which will come later. Another most important effect of 
voting against the Democratic party will be the influence 
it will have in Washington. Even a congressman is sensi- 
tive to public sentiment, and if he finds that the people 
have learned something what the " change " means, he 
will be likely to moderate his zeal in applying the declara- 
tions of the Chicago platform so as to further depress the 
industries of the country and lower the wages of the 
laboring men. 

Every citizen authorized to cast a ballot ought to have 
an opinion as to the wisdom of Democratic government 
and express it at the ballot-box. If he is sure the change 
is for the good of the country, let him vote accordingly. 
If, however, it has dawned upon him that the change in 
parties to control the affairs of the government was a mis- 
take, he can begin the work of rectifying the error of last 
fall by voting against the representatives of the Demo- 
cratic party this fall. 

Besolved, That this club declares its adherence to the 
principles and policy of the Republican party as best con- 
ducive to the happiness and prosperity of all classes of 
citizens. 

Resolved, That the policy of the Democratic party leads 



ELECTIONS OF 1893 195 

to the prostration of business and industrial interests and 
the lowering of the wages of the laboring men, with all 
their attendant evils. 

Resolved, That it is the duty of intelligent American 
citizens to wrest political power from this party by voting 
against its candidates for office, and all Republicans should 
be diligent in using every honorable means to secure the 
defeat of the Democratic party at the polls. 

Resolved, That the nomination by the Democratic party 
of Isaac H. Maynard as a candidate for the Court of Ap- 
peals shocks the moral sense of the people of this State. 
It is a bold attempt to secure approval of the great crime 
against the elective franchise, and should be resented by 
all intelligent citizens. 

Resolved, That this club approves the platform of prin- 
ciples adopted at the Syracuse Convention and heartily 
endorses the candidates nominated by that convention. 

New York, October 7, 1893. 



MUNICIPAL EEFOKM 

At a meeting of this club held on the 9th day of Novem- 
her last, Mr. Charles Stewart Smith presented to the club 
the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That the Committee on Political Reform be 
requested to report at the next meeting of the club whether 
or not, in the judgment of the committee, it is desirable 
for this club to lead any movement by which an attempt 
shall be made to unite all good men, without reference to 
political affiliations, in the one issue of good government 
for this city; and, if so, to formulate a plan therefor. 

This resolution was presented without the previous 
knowledge or concurrence of your committee, and the 
movement, therefore, does not originate with the commit- 
tee. Your committee has approached the consideration 
of the subject, oppressed with its magnitude and impor- 
tance. The task of reforming our municipal government 
is herculean, and requires the best wisdom and the best 
abilities of the best citizens of the city. Municipal govern- 
ment in all the large cities in this Union has generally 
been perverted for plunder. 

The fathers of the republic founded a system of free 
government. The ideal that they projected was simply 
perfect for self-government by the people and for the 
people ; yet, strangely enough, the system has been a dis- 
mal failure in municipal affairs. Many attempts have 



MUNICIPAL REFORM 197 

been made to rectify the evil and to lead the people out of 
the clutches of the plunderers who have seized and hold 
municipal governments for their private gain. Many men 
have been led to give up in despair and say that the 
American system, as applied to cities, is a failure. They 
have often declared that the evil is of such a nature that 
it cannot be eradicated. In all other respects the Ameri- 
can system has worked reasonably well, and with as little 
friction and as little fraud as pertain to any system, taking 
human nature as it is. 

The questions presented are : " Is the foul blot of munici- 
pal fraud and municipal bad government so deeply seated 
that it must remain forever? Is it beyond the reach of 
intelligence, virtue, and integrity ? " If so, this cancerous 
growth upon the body politic will ultimately and surely 
undermine the whole system of government. 

We are not among those who believe the evil, gigantic 
as it is, beyond cure. The evil manifests itself in different 
forms in different cities, but in its results it has generally 
been disastrous in every city. The difficulty does not per- 
tain exclusively to either of the great parties known as 
the Republican and Democratic parties. Whichever party 
is in control of a city is almost sure, sooner or later, in 
one form or another, to develop the same evil. In this 
city it so happens that, the Democratic party being in 
control, the evil manifests itself more clearly in that 
party. 

The scope of the resolution and the purpose of this re- 
port are to deal with the evil in the city of ]^ew York. 
It is useless and unnecessary to portray all the evils of 
our city government. They are known by all intelligent 
citizens. The press and the pulpit have declaimed against 
them mth a vigor and persistency that are entitled to all 



198 MUNICIPAL REFORM 

commendation ; and yet, somehow, the condition of things 
does not improve. 

The chief head and front of the offender are found in 
a benevolent organization known as the " Tammany So- 
ciety " — an organization, in its inception, never intended 
for the purpose to which it has been debased. It now as- 
sumes to itself the functions of guiding and organizing 
the political movements of the Democratic party in this 
city. Justly considered, in its action it performs none 
of the functions of a political party. Its methods are not 
democratic, but autocratic. Its results are plunder, fraud, 
and the debasement of the American system of govern- 
ment. It is simply and only, so far as its managers are 
concerned, a business corporation or combination of indi- 
viduals for private gain and public plunder. It has seized 
upon all the offices of the city, and controls, through 
legal machinery, the magnificent annual resources of the 
city, amounting to about $34,000,000. It also derives an 
enormous revenue from its system of assessments upon 
officers and employees of the city, from the highest to the 
lowest. It is hard to account for the sudden and enormous 
wealth of many of the managers of that organization upon 
any other theory than that there is in vogue a relentless 
system of jDlundering the city, the citizens, and the em- 
ployees of the government. 

To administer the trust of disposing of revenues amount- 
ing to about $34,000,000 requires the agency of the high- 
est order of talent and integrity. The charge is not that 
all of this money is misappropriated. The gravamen of the 
charge is that some of it is misapplied. It is in vain for 
Tammany magnates to point out the good work they do. 
Tweed and his fellow-conspirators could justly do the same 
thing. The demands of good government are that all, 



MUNICIPAL REFORM 199 

not a part, of the public money shall be properly appro- 
priated with the same integrity with which well-conducted 
private enterprises are carried on. 

The Tammany Society aids and abets the most gigantic 
frauds upon the ballot-box, and finds in these frauds its 
buttress and bulwark. Wherever vice is reeking and 
ignorance prevails, there is found the chief support of the 
organization. In proportion as vice, crime, and ignorance 
prevail in the vilest and most degraded portion of our 
city, in the same proportion does the strength of Tammany 
increase. Without this support it cannot exist. 

One of its methods of holding power consists in cun- 
ningly devised schemes to keep separate and apart honest 
citizens, so that at each succeeding election it can come in 
with its hordes of ignorance and coiTuption, and capture 
the control of the city. It has found not a few in the Re- 
publican party who have been willing to either run or not 
run for office, or to deliver or not deliver votes, for the 
sole purpose of promoting the success of this band of 
plunderers. 

The game of politics has been so played by the con- 
spirators and enemies of good and honest government as 
to keep absolute control of the city government. We can 
well believe that, as they have played their game, they 
have exulted with glee at the thought that honest citizens 
and lovers of good government have gone helplessly and 
almost foolishly to the polls, year after year, nullifying one 
another's votes by voting a ticket labelled either Repub- 
lican or Democratic, while they, in the background, with 
their forces of ignorance, vice, and corruption, have cun- 
ningly kept their hold upon the city. 

It is time to throw off this disgraceful burden. No man 
of intelligence who has given the subject the slightest 



200 MUNICIPAL REFORM 

thought has ever doubted that the vast majority of the 
electors of this city are honest and desire a clean, able, 
and honest government, and that they have the power, if 
they will exercise it, to produce this result. 

One of the favorite arguments that has been urged and 
repeated time and again in both parties has been that it 
is necessary for the good of a party to keep the same 
party organization in city matters; that to abandon the 
national and State party organization in city matters for 
the sake of the city and support a reform city ticket would 
demoralize the respective parties on national and State 
issues. We think this is entirely fallacious and will not 
bear examination. ^N^either the Republican nor the Demo- 
cratic party by itself, as a national or a State party, exists 
or can live one minute for the benefit of the city of 
New York, ISTational questions and State questions are in 
no way related to or dependent upon the character and 
integrity of the city government. Men may justly differ 
in their opinions upon the tariff, upon currency, upon 
banking, upon silver, upon interstate commerce, upon 
foreign relations, and upon a multitude of questions that 
pertain to the national parties, and may unite for the pur- 
pose of a good city government. 

It is not easy to see what connection there is between 
the tariff, the silver question, and the affairs of the navy 
and other kindred subjects, and the building of docks, 
opening and paving of streets, extending the waterworks 
of the city, putting out its fires, or policing the city, and all 
other matters pertaining to the government of the cor- 
poration of New York. We see no reason why men should 
surrender their personal views upon national and State 
issues because they cooperate for a pure city government. 
In fact, the city of New York is not a nation or a State, 



MUNICIPAL REFORM 201 

but it is in reality a corporation created for the benefit of 
the citizens, and in many respects like other corporations, 
although on a larger scale. 

It is well known that all these organizations are con- 
trolled and managed by men of different political views. 
In selecting these men the question is never asked as to 
their views on the tariff, banking, silver, f oreigTi relations, 
or any other question pertaining to the government of 
the nation, or as to any questions touching the govern- 
ment of the State. They cooperate and co-work with the 
perfect understanding that they have diverse political 
views and that they surrender none of them by such co- 
operation in these various corporations. 

Even in business co-partnerships men of diverse parties 
work together without regard to their affiliations with 
either party. The employees of these institutions are 
never selected because of their connection with one party 
or the other, or by reason of their efficiency as party man- 
agers or " heelers." The sole and only question is and 
should be, " Are they competent and qualified to fill and 
discharge the duties of the position in the corporation that 
employs them ? " It would be looked upon as an outrage 
if the officers and managers of these corporations were to 
annually and regularly assess the employees, from the 
highest to the lowest, for the purpose of promoting the 
prosperity of a political party. The corporation of the 
city of New York, as a business corporation, should be 
run and managed upon the same principles that any other 
well-managed corporation is conducted. 

In cooperating as we have indicated, it should be dis- 
tinctly understood that no man surrenders or abates in 
any way or manner his affiliations with the political party 
of his choice; that upon national and State issues every 



202 MUNICIPAL REFORM 

citizen may take his position under and align himself with 
the party of his choice, and his reasons for doing so or his 
activity in that party should not be subjects of question 
within the domain of a reform party for city government. 
If such a result can be obtained it will tend to purify both 
parties. It w^ill remove the foul stain of corrupt municipal 
government from American institutions, and will demon- 
strate the wisdom of our fathers in establishing the basis 
of our government as they did. It will no longer be said 
that in all other respects the system was rightly conceived 
and properly adapted, but that it is not adapted to munici- 
pal government. The occupation of men who follow poli- 
tics for a business will be gone. 

The recent elections are full of hope and promise. It 
has been demonstrated that, when honest citizens unite, 
the powers of corruption and fraud can be driven from 
high places. With unity and vigorous action the task will 
be an easy and successful one. Both parties, as national 
and State parties, will remain in the field, contending for 
the principles they espouse, and will succeed or fail as 
they shall succeed or fail in impressing their respective 
views upon the voters. Activity for a national or State 
party in any legitimate way by an individual should be a 
personal privilege unaffected by reason of such person's 
affiliations with the movement we suggest. The same free- 
dom of political action should remain to each individual 
as now remains to them when cooperating for business, 
benevolent, or social purposes. No man should be dis- 
qualified for holding office in this city because he is active 
either as a Democrat or as a Republican. 

Municipal government in this city is worthy of the best 
efforts of its citizens to rescue it from the spoilers and 
plunderers. The questions for each citizen to ask himself 



MUNICIPAL REFORM 203 

are : " Is it wise, is it good judgment, to leave the city 
governiiient a football in the political contests over na- 
tional and State matters? Should I hesitate to do my 
dutv here, for fear such action mav have a remote in- 
fluence uj^on these other issues ? " This noble city is 
worthy of an effort to purify its government. By such an 
effort good government for the nation and State w^U be 
promoted, and American institutions and the American 
system of government will be purified and vindicated. 
Nothing will be lost to the nation or State, and every- 
thing will be gained for the city. 

As preliminary and necessary conditions for securing 
a reform city government, a change should be made in 
the ballot law, by having a just and fair blanket ballot. 
If separate municipal elections are not secured, it should 
provide for voting, without trouble to the elector, a city 
ticket unembarrassed by a national or State ticket. Pro- 
vision should be made to exclude congressmen, State sen- 
ators, and assemblymen from the city ticket. 

The non-partisan character of the Police Board should 
be made mandatory by law. 

The non-partisan character of the Boards of Election 
Inspectors should be reestablished. 

The municipal election should be separated from the 
national and State elections. 

The power to make appropriations at Albany that im- 
pose taxes should be taken away, and all city appropria- 
tions should be made by the municipal government. Then 
the voters would be brought face to face with the men 
who impose unjust taxes, and they would see to it that the 
character of the men they vote for is such as to justify 
their confidence. 

At this time it is of the first importance that the hands 



204 MUNICIPAL REFORM 

of the men who are engaged in the prosecution of offend- 
ers against the election laws should be sustained, not only 
by the moral support of this club, but by its material aid. 
Nothing would tend so strongly to promote reform in this 
city as the punishment of these old and habitual offenders 
against the purity of the ballot-box. 

The plan proposed is not based upon the idea of opposi- 
tion to Tammany alone. JSTothing is gained by ousting the 
present government only to make place for another gang 
of plunderers and spoilsmen. This club will not know- 
ingly be a party to such a movement. The central idea 
of the movement should be good and honest government 
in the interest of the city, its taxpayers, and citizens. 

It will be observed that the purpose of the plan out- 
lined by your committee is to sever absolutely, and as 
completely as possible. State and national issues from the 
vote on municipal affairs. For this reason we do not 
recommend cooperating in electing senators and members 
of the assembly. Their functions and duties lie entirely 
outside of and beyond the scope of the purposes of this 
movement. This is especially and notably true every few 
years, when the election of a United States senator is pend- 
ing. We are not unmindful of the desirability of procur- 
ing a better class of representatives for the city, but we 
recommend that these offices be left for reform by such 
methods as the representatives of parties may apply within 
their respective parties. For the same reason members 
of Congress should be excluded from the scope and pur- 
pose of the proposed cooperation. Here, also, the elector 
will wish to express his preference on national policy. 

The plan proposed can only succeed by the union of the 
vast body of citizens of the city, irrespective of party 
affiliations. I^either can it succeed without the powerful 



MUNICIPAL REFORM 205 

support of the independent press of the city, whose power 
to arouse public sentiment was so splendidly illustrated in 
the late election. We earnestly bespeak the cooperation 
and support of the press in this effort to sever municipal 
government from national and State issues. 

In this work the club will cooperate with any existing 
organization, or any that may be formed, for the purpose of 
rescuing the city from the hands of those who now control 
its destinies, provided it can be done on a truly non-parti- 
san basis. It fully appreciates that this is a herculean 
task. The spoilers have fastened their fangs upon the 
city and ^vill not be dislodged easily. It is only by united, 
persistent, and organized effort that there can be any hope 
of success. If public sentiment can be properly aroused, 
united, and marshalled, the triumph will be easy. No one 
then need apologize for the deplorable state of things in 
the city, but all wlio unite in this work will be proud of 
the city government and proud that they have taken part 
in the great reform. 

The city is full of earnest, honest young men who will 
be glad to rally to the standard of reform and take part 
in organizing and carrying forward the work, if only the 
hope can be held out that it is a permanent reform ; that 
it means a revolution and a reversal of the history of the 
government of the city; that it is no ephemeral movement, 
but a reform inaugurated to be carried on until the war 
ends and victory crowns with triumph. Then it will be an 
honor to be nominated for an office and an honor to hold 
and fill an office. Young men may then very properly, 
with self-respect and sterling manhood, seek for promo- 
tion, knowing that to hold a city oflSce will be a decora- 
tion. It should be a badge of honor to hold an office, 
rather than a badge of disgrace and slavery. Proper 



206 MUNICIPAL REFORM 

ambition for office should be commended rather than 
checked. 

This club occupies a proud position as an exponent of 
the principles and policy of the Republican party. Under 
no circumstances will it surrender its position or agree to 
abate its activity for the maintenance of the principles of 
that party in national and State affairs. It does not believe 
that in cooperating with the citizens of this city for the 
purpose of rescuing the city from misrule its power or 
influence on national and State affairs will be in the slight- 
est degree impaired. Neither do we ask that any other 
political organization shall surrender one iota of its activity 
in promoting the views it may maintain upon all other 
questions. On those questions we will go before the peo- 
ple differing as heretofore, and seek their approval of 
the views we respectively entertain with the same earnest- 
ness and unabated vigor, notwithstanding we join hands 
and join forces for the purpose of good government in the 
city. 

The question of reform in this city is liable to be greatly 
influenced by the action taken in the Constitutional Con- 
vention and by legislation at Albany, and it is impossible 
to forecast what that will be. If separate municipal elec- 
tions shall be secured the outcome may be the formation 
of a permanent city reform party, irrespective of all party 
affiliations in national and State affairs. If such shall be 
the result it will be well. The time is not ripe for the con- 
sideration of that question. 

This club, as a club, is not adapted by its organization 
to lead in such a movement. Its traditional policy is not 
to take part in party organizations. Besides, its well- 
known political character would foredoom any movement 
of that kind of failure. The members of this club as 



MUNICIPAL REFORM 207 

citizens may properly unite with other citizens in such a 
movement, and if such a movement should be inaugurated 
and should appear to lead the way to a truly non-partisan 
city government, undoubtedly this club would give cordial 
support to such a ticket. 

The present attempted reforms within the Republican 
and Democratic parties will no doubt have an important 
and far-reaching influence. These movements will be 
closely watched by the best citizens of both parties, and it 
may be that a genuine reform government will be evolved 
through those organizations. The citizens are in no tem- 
per to be trifled with in this matter. Reform in the city 
government is demanded, either within the old party lines 
or by a disregard of them in city matters. 

Your committee, with a full sense of the great respon- 
sibility that has been placed upon them, and with a full 
appreciation of the importance of the subject, submit this 
report for the thoughtful consideration of the club and 
the citizens of this city generally, and recommend the 
adoption by the club of the following resolutions : 

Eesolved, That the Union League Club ratifies and 
adopts the foregoing report of its committee. 

Resolved, That, within substantially the lines indicated 
by this report, it pledges its hearty support and coopera- 
tion to all associations, political organizations, and indi- 
viduals who may join in the effort for the election of a 
city ticket to secure a non-partisan reform government 
for the city of New York. That if a union of the citizens 
of all parties for municipal reform shall be effected and a 
genuine reform ticket shall be nominated, it pledges its 
I hearty support to such ticket. 

j Xew York, January, 1894. 



BEIiTJAMm HAEEISOK CAMPAIGN 

In the pending political contest going on in this country 
the centre of the battle is the fiscal policy of the govern- 
ment. The Republican position on the tariff question is 
that, in levying impost duties to support the government, 
they should be so levied as to promote domestic industries. 
This policy is popularly known as a protective tariff policy. 

The platform adopted by the Democratic party declares 
that the " federal government has no constitutional power 
to enforce and collect tariff duties except for the purposes 
of revenue only." The issue between the parties, assum- 
ing that it is the purpose of the Democratic party to obtain 
this revenue from imposts, is, therefore, reduced to one 
of two methods of getting the revenue — one a strictly 
revenue tariff, and the other a protective tariff. 

It is admitted on all hands that the primary purpose of 
impost duties is to raise the money necessary to support 
the general government. The most vital function of a 
government is the power to raise money for its support. 
A government's existence depends upon its possession of 
this power, and the exercise of the power must go on or 
the government will fail. Whatever difference of opinion 
there may be as to forms of government, all have this 
cornerstone in common. Political economists may differ 
as to the method of raising the money, but all agree as to 
the basis upon which the political structure we call a civil 
government must stand. There are but three sources, 
with trifling exceptions, known to civilized countries, from 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 209 

which to derive revenue, and those are either impost duties 
(commonly called tariff duties), export duties, and internal 
taxes, or direct taxation in some form. Export duties form 
no part of the fiscal policy of this country and need not 
be referred to again. Statesmanship in financial matters 
has to deal with the method of raising the necessary 
moneys to carry on the government. It is the statesman's 
duty to point out the place or places from which, and pro- 
vide the means by which, the collection of the money can 
be enforced. The political economist may very properly 
point out the best method of raising the money so that 
the burden may fall as lightly upon, and be distributed 
as justly among, the people as possible ; and, therefore, the 
statesman should be a political economist. 

For the fiscal year terminating June 30, 1891, the 
United States Government raised from impost duties 
$219,522,205. It raised from internal revenue $145,- 
689,249. The post-office receipts were $65,931,785. 
From other sources about $27,000,000 were raised, mak- 
ing the total receipts of the government for that year 
the sum of $458,544,233. For the purposes of this dis- 
cussion we shall only deal with the customs duties, stated 
in round figures at $220,000,000, the amount received for 
the fiscal year terminating June 30, 1891, as reported 
by the Treasury Department at the opening of Congress 
in December, 1891. This is approximately the sum re- 
quired each year to support the government. It is prob- 
able that a smaller sum of customs revenue will be re- 
ported to Congress next December. As to the doctrine of 
protection herein contended for, it will be the same what- 
ever that sum may be. We take the last official report 
made to Congress as the basis of our paper. 

In dealing %vith this sum we shall assume that the Demo- 
14 



210 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

cratic party intends, in good faith, to raise it by impost 
duties, and that it proposes to levy it somewhere upon 
foreign products landed in our ports. While it is un- 
doubtedly true that the Democratic party has a vast body 
of free-traders who are trying to educate the people into 
the doctrine of free trade, it is not nominated in the Demo- 
cratic platform that such is the intention of the party; 
and, for the present, they cannot object that we assume 
a bona fide intention on their part of continuing im- 
post duties to secure at least that amount of revenue. 
Such being the fact, it becomes vitally important to 
the business interests of the country to know with cer- 
tainty what it is that they mean to tax in order to raise 
this money. 

There is no difference in the quality of the money that is 
turned into the Treasury by an impost duty, whether it 
comes from a duty so levied as to protect American indus- 
tries or a duty levied for revenue only, regardless of our 
industries. If one is a tax upon the consumer, the other 
is also a tax upon him. They are precisely alike in that 
feature of the question. The burden of it as a tax must be 
carried upon one shoulder or the other. 

Revenue reformers and philosophers are constantly 
talking about a protective tariff as if it were a tax for the 
benefit of a favored class, which they call the manufac- 
turers. Such an assertion is untrue in fact, as they well 
know. The impost is not for the benefit of the manufac- 
turers, so far as raising money is involved. The impost 
is for the support of the government, and to enable it to 
perform its functions without levying a like amount in 
some other form upon the people ; and the question comes 
down, in its final analysis, whether, on the whole, this 
method of taxation by imposts so levied as to promote our 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 211 

industries does not promote the general prosperity in a 
higher degree than any other mode of taxation. 

Among the powers conferred upon Congress in the Con- 
stitution is the power " to lay and collect taxes, duties, 
imposts, and excises." There is no limitation as to the 
purposes for which duties and imposts shall be laid, but 
they are required to be uniform throughout the United 
States. The framers of the Constitution understood that 
there were two purposes of " duties and imposts " — one 
was to raise revenue, and the other was the protection of 
manufacturers. The second act of Congress, passed im- 
mediately after the opening of the first session, which act 
was signed by George Washington, declared that " it is 
necessary, for the support of the government, for the dis- 
charge of the debts of the United States, and for the pro- 
tection of the manufacturers, that duties and imposts be 
laid upon imported goods, wares, and merchandise." 

Here we have the dual purpose declared by the men 
fresh from the Constitutional Convention. One was to 
raise money, the other was to protect manufacturers. 
These purposes were to be affected by duties laid on " im- 
ported goods, wares, and merchandise." It is in the nature 
of the case that an impost upon what we can produce must 
act in some degree to protect them. These consequences 
must flow from any tariff except one levied upon things 
we cannot manufacture or produce. Ko one has as yet 
advocated a tariff so limited. 

The Republican doctrine of a protective tariff accepts 
this secondary effect of promoting our industries as an 
effect of the greatest public benefit. 

As often happens in the affairs of life, the secondary 
effect in many cases becomes of greater importance than 
the primary object. If, as a result, revenue in some par- 



213 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

ticular cases is lessened by reason of the increase of the 
domestic manufactures, experience has shown that the 
country has greatly prospered as the consequence. The 
primary purpose of the tariff and the secondary effect of it 
must stand or fall together. 

One of the purposes declared in the preamble of the 
Constitution is to " promote the general welfare." The 
body of the Constitution gives power to Congress to " pro- 
vide " for the " general welfare." If the general welfare 
is promoted by a protective tariff, it is within the terms 
and scope of the Constitution as applied and defended by 
its founders. The wisdom of continuing an impost is a 
question of good or bad policy for political economists and 
statesmen to consider, after carefully studying the effect 
of an impost law, both as to its primary purpose and sec- 
ondary effect of protection. The doctrine of a protective 
tariff involves the two purposes of raising revenue and the 
protection of our industries by duties and imposts. 

The phrase " revenue tariff " is the most elastic and in- 
accurate phrase that ever crept into the political history of 
this country. Its inexactness consists in this, that it does 
not express a certain policy. It is elastic enough to em- 
brace a protective tariff, for the revenues of a protective 
tariff are precisely the same as the revenues from a reve- 
nue tariff in so far as they go towards the support of 
the government. A revenue tariff may be a good pro- 
tective tariff, or it may be a very bad protective tariff, and 
yet produce the same results in furnishing money for the 
government. 

The people are in no mood, when such vast interests 
are at stake, to accept phrases for facts, and platitudes for 
clearly defined policy. This phrase " revenue tariff " had 
its greatest virility for political juggling in the great de- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 213 

bate on tariff policy between 1840 and 1850. Its uncer- 
tainty enabled it to do duty in manufacturing States like 
Pennsylvania and the ISTew England States as a protective 
tariff, and to do duty in the South and West for a non- 
protective tariff. What the people now desire to know is, 
Do the Democrats propose to raise this money by imposts 
upon substantially the same articles that the Republicans 
are raising it upon, or do they propose to raise it by im- 
posts upon other articles? If upon other articles in gen- 
eral, what articles do they propose to levy the duty upon ? 
If the reformers will develop their ideas as to where they 
propose to levy these imposts to raise this $220,000,000, 
the business interests of the country can then study the 
problem of its effect upon those interests. Until they go 
further than to proclaim that they propose a " revenue 
tariff," they are justly chargeable with concealing their 
purposes and deceiving the public. 

It is an easy matter to formulate a revenue tariff which 
shall furnish to the country $220,000,000. It is of vital 
importance to know upon what subjects these imposts shall 
be levied. A revenue tariff could be easily framed that 
would furnish this money by taxing tea, coffee, sugar, 
crude rubber, and a multitude of other articles that must 
be imported into the country, and it would fall strictly 
within the definition of a revenue tariff. The Democrats 
have never yet agreed upon a definition of the phrase 
" revenue tariff." Formerly they used to be pressed to 
the wall for a definition, and in some instances it was de- 
fined to be the business of the government to raise money 
in the most convenient and economical manner for the 
government, regardless of the manufacturing interests of 
the country. Do they mean that to-day? If they mean 
to levy it so as to promote American industries, then it is 



314 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

essentially a protective tariff, the same in principle as that 
contended for by the Eepublicans. Differences of opinion 
may arise in special cases as to the amount and subjects 
of taxation, but essentially a revenue tariff which pro- 
motes American industries is a protective tariff. A rev- 
enue tariff which disregards American industries may be 
a most excellent revenue tariff so far as mere revenue 
goes, and produce precisely the same support for the gov- 
ernment that a protective tariff does, but may be very 
destructive to the industrial interests of the country. 

If the Democrats do not propose to levy their revenue 
tariff so as to promote American industries, then it is 
fair to presume that they propose to levy it disregarding 
those industries. They will then be practically upon the 
basis of a revenue tariff such as was contended for by 
many of the speakers and writers between 1840 and 1850. 
That the present tariff raises revenue for the support of 
the government is not the point of attack on the part of 
the Democrats. That it performs this function efficiently 
and well they must concede. And so far there seems to be 
no good reason why it is not just as good a revenue tariff 
under which to support the govermnent as any tariff that 
they could frame. This tariff performs all the functions 
of a revenue tariff, furnishing just about the right amount 
of money for the needs of the government which should 
be derived from this source. 

The question is, Do the Democrats mean, in good faith, 
to raise by impost duties $220,000,000? There can be 
but two answers to this — one is that thev do, and the other 
is that they do not. If they do raise the $220,000,000 
they must raise it by some method which will promote our 
industries or by a method which disregards them. The 
first method is simply and purely a protective tariff, and 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 215 

the debate over tlie great subject immediately descends 
to a question of detail as between the respective industries. 
Here there is a field for wide difference of opinion, and 
the result will be, as it always has been where interests are 
so diversified, extending over our great country, with a 
population of sixty-three millions, that many compromises 
will have to be made before any tariff can be agreed 
upon. 

If they do not propose to raise the entire sum by im- 
posts, but to reduce the amount of money collected on 
imported goods, this is important to be known. There is 
but one other source for them from which to furnish sup- 
port to the government, and that is to reestablish many 
of the vexatious and unpopular kinds of direct internal 
taxation that were in vogue during and subsequent to the 
war period. The field of internal taxation is pretty well 
worked at this time to support our State, municipal, and 
local governments, and the people are not anxious to see 
the tax gatherer for the general government asking for 
a further sum for its support. It is not yet made clear to 
them that it is desirable to change the traditional policy of 
this government. Since its formation this policy has been 
to seek support from impost duties whenever a sufficient 
sum could be realized from that source. 

The Eepublican principles are clear, clean-cut, and 
easily defined. The Republicans without hesitation de- 
clare their intention to raise this revenue by impost duties ; 
that they do not propose to enlarge the number of sources 
of internal direct taxation from which revenue may be de- 
rived ; that they do propose to levy these imposts so as to 
promote, rather than depress, our industries. However 
the wisdom of a particular impost may be debated, the 
broad principle remains precisely as we have stated it, 



216 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

and upon this principle we are willing to submit our posi- 
tion to the verdict of the people. 

If the Democrats do not propose to promote American 
industries in raising the revenue, it is not very unfair to 
assume that the definition given of a revenue tariff as one 
that raises revenue, regardless of its effect upon domestic 
industries, is the princij^le upon which they go before 
the people. On this basis it is difficult to explain the fierce 
attack that they have made upon many of the provisions 
of the McKinley Bill. If the McKinley Bill raises reve- 
nue, why should not the Democrats at least be indifferent 
to the question whether it does or does not promote Ameri- 
can industries ? One of the most amazing and unaccount- 
able, and in some aspects amusing, incidents of the dis- 
cussions on the part of the reformers is the terrible on- 
slaught that has been made upon the provision in the Mc- 
Kinley Bill imposing an impost upon tin plate. Certainly, 
if American industries are not to be promoted, but reve- 
nue is what is sought, it is just as well to derive revenue 
from that source as from any other. The protectionist 
claims that this provision will operate, within a reasonable 
time, to transfer to this country a most important and 
valuable industry. The revenue reformer and free-trader 
denies this proposition. Let us look at it in the two aspects. 
It either will do it or it will not do it. If it will not do it, 
the impost wdll certainly go on turning revenue into the 
government, performing the functions of a revenue tariff, 
and so render good service for the support of the govern- 
ment. The only question, therefore, which would seem 
to be pertinent to the issue as to the propriety of this im- 
post would be whether it is an unjust tax on the people. 
If it is a tax carried as lightly as any other, why should 
not a revenue tariff embrace this impost? If it is a tax 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 217 

carried more lightly than many others, it certainly serves 
a most useful purpose. 

In the light of the brief experience we have had under 
that impost, it is a fact worth noting that the great body 
of the consumers have paid nothing by way of an advance 
in the price of their tin utensils or canned goods. For 
the truth of this we can appeal to every householder and 
every housewife in the land. Eor the service that this im- 
post renders as a revenue measure, it is certainly entitled 
to the commendation of a revenue tariff man. It may be 
that it has received this just meed of praise from this 
class of writers, but if it has it has escaped our observa- 
tion. It ought also to be a comfort to the reformer to 
know that the people are paying no advance on their tin- 
ware or canned goods by reason of this impost; so that the 
impost has furnished revenue without burdening the con- 
sumer. This feature of the operation of this impost ought, 
in common justice, to have received the commendation 
of the revenue reformer. How the burden of the impost 
has been adjusted as between the tin-plate manufacturer 
and the manufacturer of tinware and tin cans ought not 
to interest the reformer very much, for these people are 
only manufacturers, and, upon the theory of the revenue 
reformer, they are not entitled to much consideration at 
their hands. The reformer's whole burden is unjust taxa- 
tion upon the consumers. Taxation which does not rest 
heavily ui)on consumers should be, from their standpoint, 
ideal taxation, and such seems to be the character of the 
impost upon tin. If, on the other hand, this impost, while 
doing this beneficial work of furnishing revenue for the 
government, should operate, as the Republicans contend 
it will, in transferring to this country this important in- 
dustry, as hundreds of other industries have been trans- 



218 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

ferred under a like policy, widening the field of labor, 
what particular harm is done to the country? We feel 
confident that the people will look on with approval while 
this process is going on, even though the theories of the 
reformers go down before the irresistible logic of the fact. 
It may be hard on the theorists, but they will only suffer 
one more defeat in the same line of the many defeats they 
have suffered during the last forty years. Theories have 
always had to go down before the logic of facts, and no 
class of theorists have ever had to suffer so many defeats 
in that way as the free-traders and tariff reformers of this 
country. According to the theories of the free-traders and 
tariff reformers, if the protective tariff is removed from 
industries that we can prosecute in this country, the cost 
of the article will be cheaper to the consumer. This is 
the whole burden of their argument. If the facts of our 
experience justified their conclusion it might present a 
grave question as to the wisdom of continuing impost 
duties in this country. Many considerations, such as the 
effect of free trade in destroying fields of labor, would 
still remain to be considered. Experience shows that the 
theorists are wrong as to the effect of a protective tariff 
on prices to consumers. It may be put down as a general 
proposition, established by the experience of the last forty 
years, that whenever the foreign manufacturers have had 
our markets, the consumer has paid higher prices for his 
goods than he has paid after our domestic industries were 
established under a protective policy. Upon this point we 
may challenge the experience of the great body of the con- 
sumers throughout the land. Let them reflect in their 
own mind upon the prices formerly paid by them for vari- 
ous articles in every-day use and the prices they now pay 
for the same articles and they will be convinced. If there 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 219 

are any exceptions to this rule, they are so rare as not to 
abate from the force of the rule as a general proposition. 
The exceptions, if any, will generally be found to be in 
luxuries. The instances which illustrate this are innumer- 
able. Explain it as the reformers may, steel rails, carpets, 
crockery, glassware, table cutlery, silks, silk ribbons, dress 
goods, watches, steel wire nails, linseed oil, soda ash, steel 
hoops, cotton ties, and numerous other articles of a kin- 
dred nature in common use, embracing almost all the wants 
of the people, are purchased every day by the consmner 
at a lower price than they were furnished to us by the 
foreign manufacturer before our owm industries were able 
to enter the field in competition with the foreigners. This 
is all wrong, according to the theorists ; but somehow the 
fact stands out in our experience, which leads to the con- 
clusion that the theorists left out, in their calculations, 
some important elements. We suspect that they do not 
give due credit to the cupidity and love of gain of the 
foreign manufacturers. At all events, we know of no 
experience in this country which justifies us in giving up 
our home markets — the best in the world — to the manu- 
facturers in foreign countries, for the purpose of getting 
goods for domestic use at a lower rate than we can 
get them with our own manufacturers in the field as 
competitors. 

The fact that a rival nation greatly desires another na- 
tion to pursue a certain policy raises a strong presumption 
that that desire is a selfish desire. Our greatest rivals in 
this conflict of interests are the manufacturers of Great 
Britain. Their desire that we should change our tra- 
ditional fiscal policy is intense. No one knows how intense 
it is who has not travelled in England and conversed 
with the leading and business men. N'othing could occur 



220 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

throiigliout the world that would afford such unbounded 
joy to the English public as the success of the Democratic 
party in the election of Grover Cleveland, because it would 
mean the abandonment of our fiscal policy. If the change 
of our policy were in their hands to make, whether you 
call it " free trade " or " revenue reform " it would be 
accomplished immediately. 

The question that arises at once in the mind of a wary 
man is whether this intense desire on the part of Great 
Britain for us to change our policy is for the good of 
England or for our good. A sagacious business man would 
be likely to suspect that it was a selfish desire on the part 
of the English, and not a benevolent wish to promote our 
prosperity. If he looks carefully into the policy of the 
English Government for more than one hundred years 
past, he will find that wherever it has sought to influence 
foreign nations, whether by persuasion, diplomacy, or gun- 
powder, it has always been with a single eye to British 
interests. We are second to none in our admiration for 
the sturdy enterprise and sterling individuality of that 
nation; but we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that wher- 
ever she has by any means imposed her policy upon an- 
other nation it has always been to sap the resources of that 
nation for her own benefit. She has not been able even 
to hold all her own colonies to her own free-trade theories, 
for they have discovered that their prosperity has been too 
much prostrated by a policy which has built up England's 
greatness. 

It is a singular fact that the Democrats, reformers, and 
theorists who are seeking to break down our traditional 
fiscal policy in this country are working exactly in har- 
mony with, and upon the line desired by. Great Britain. 
The American people, if they are wise, should be very 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 221 

slow to believe that such policy is for our benefit rather 
than for the benefit of the British Empire. Admiring as 
we do the sagacity and force of that great people, we 
earnestly protest against adopting their policy, which was 
in vogue in this country before the American Revolution, 
and practically in vogue after the Eevolution until our 
Constitution was adopted. We prefer rather to stand 
with Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Mon- 
roe, who had experienced the effect of British policy upon 
our trade and industries, and who established, with our 
Constitution, the principle of protection to American in- 
dustries and defended the same during their lifetime. 

Free trade is essentially a British policy. It is soft- 
ened and modified by the phrase " revenue reform " so 
as to make it palatable to the American people ; but it is 
none the less a distinctive policy, antagonistic to the 
American policy of jDrotection imder which we have flour- 
ished, whenever that policy has been in vogue, for more 
than one hundred years. The nation that consents to re- 
duce itself to be a producer of food and raw materials for 
a manufacturing nation is from that moment a vassal of 
the manufacturing nation. 

The policy of reciprocity in certain lines of foreign 
products is one of the latest developments of Eepublican 
statesmanship. It is too soon to determine the full effect 
of this policy, but the Democrats, with their usual prompt- 
ness, denounce it a " sham." In what particular it is a 
" sham " they do not declare officially. No one pretends 
that it has injured our foreign commerce. Every one 
knows that it has opened or enlarged numerous foreign 
markets for many millions of dollars' worth of our farm 
products and manufactures. The only thing that the 
Democratic party has been consistent in for more than 



222 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

thirty years is its steady and uniform denunciation of 
every measure brought forward by Republican statesmen, 
regardless of the merits of the measure. The Democrats 
have had no particular line of principles that they have 
adhered to, except that they have always been ready to 
put themselves in front of Republican progress and de- 
nounce it. 

Finally, they denounce the protective tariff as uncon- 
stitutional, forgetting apparently that the framers of the 
Constitution were all in favor of a protective tariff, and 
that the second bill signed by Washington declared in so 
many words in favor of a protective tariff policy. That 
circumstance, however, did not seem to weigh much with 
the Democrats at Chicago. When they found the Repub- 
licans adhering to the principles of the fathers of the 
republic, they promptly took their normal position of op- 
position to the Republicans, and also of the opposition to 
the founders of the republic. 

Republican statesmanship has built up the best system 
of currency this country has ever known. The dollar of 
one section is as good as the dollar of any other section. 
All the movements of trade and travel throughout this vast 
country run as smoothly as do the business and travel of 
the British Empire, based upon the Bank of England notes. 
The limits of this paper forbid the discussion of the evils 
of issues of State currency. Every man in the land who 
handled money before 1861 had experience of the losses 
and annoyances of that kind of currency. It is difficult 
to account for the passage of the resolution in the Demo- 
cratic platform at Chicago in favor of repealing the tax 
on currency issued by State banks, except upon the theory 
that here they found a monument to the wisdom of Re- 
publican statesmanship, and that, to be consistent with 



BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 223 

their record, they must put the party in opposition to it. 
In fact, opposition to, and denunciation of. Republican 
measures has been the lode star of the party, regardless 
of the merits of a measure. Yet, in the presence of all 
the din and noise of denunciation. Republican statesmen 
have gone on maintaining Republican principles and de- 
veloping Republican policy. The country has grown and 
prospered ; its resources have been developed with a rapid- 
ity that has astonished the world. We have maintained 
our institutions at home and commanded the respect of 
foreign nations. 

Conspicuous among the statesmen who have carried for- 
ward this great work is Benjamin Harrison, our candidate 
for President. Whether on the battlefield or the forum, 
in the Senate of the United States or as President of this 
great nation, he has always acquitted himself as one of 
the best types of an American Christian statesman. While 
we recognize that the principles of a party touch more 
vitally the happiness and prosperity of a people than does 
the individuality of any man, we also recognize that prin- 
ciples and sound governmental policy are only maintained 
and carried forward by men of the stalwart type of our 
President. 

We, therefore, recommend the adoption of the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Resolved, That the Union League Club approves of the 
principles of the Republican party as enunciated in the 
platform adopted at the last National Convention ; that it 
reaffirms its adherence to the principle that the support 
of the general government should be derived, as far as 
practicable, from impost duties; that in levying such 
duties they should be levied so as to promote American 



224 BENJAMIN HARRISON CAMPAIGN 

industries and preserve the principles of a protective tariff, 
which was inaugurated bj Washington and others who 
framed the Constitution of the United States. 

Resolved, That we ratify and approve the nomination 
of Benjamin Harrison for reelection as President of these 
United States. His administration has been firm and con- 
servative. He has maintained the principles of the Re- 
publican party, and the country has enjoyed unusual pros- 
perity. He has maintained with a firm hand the rights 
and good name of the nation in all our foreign relations. 
He has won the confidence of all thoughtful and conserva- 
tive people. The best interests and prosperity of the peo- 
ple will be promoted by his reelection. 

Resolved, That the nomination of Whitelaw Eeid, one 
of the distinguished members of this club, for Vice-Presi- 
dent is ratified and approved. He has long been known to 
us as a gentleman who has conspicuous ability to discharge 
any duty that may devolve upon him. He is a Republi- 
can of the best type, in full sympathy with the policy and 
principles of the party. 

K'ew York, September 27, 1892. 



POLICE LEGISLATIOX 

The Committee on Political Eeform submit the follow- 
ing report and resolutions, and recommend their adoption : 

At a meeting of this club held on the 8th day of Febru- 
ary, 1894, the following resolution was adopted: 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Political Eeform be 
requested to report at the next meeting what action, if 
any, should be taken by this club touching the bills now 
before the legislature relating to reform, reorganization, 
or changes in the Police Department of the city of Xew 
York, and especially report if, in their judgment, it is 
desirable that this department should have but one head, 
that it should be divorced from politics, and that the duty 
of appointing inspectors of election should be transferred 
to a separate bureau." 

Your committee have procured copies of all bills pend- 
ing in Albany up to a recent date, and have given them 
as careful examination as the limit of time would allow. 
They find pending there one Senate and four Assembly 
bills treating upon the subject of Police Commissioners of 
the city of JSTew York. 

The first one in date was Senate Bill Xo. 35, introduced 

January 9, 1894, by Mr. Lexow. The next in order was 

Assembly Bill Xo. 42, introduced January 10, 1894, by 

Mr. Thornton. This was followed on January 18th by 

Assembly Bill Xo. 190, introduced by Mr. Lawson, and 
15 



226 POLICE LEGISLATION 

on February 7tli Assembly Eill J^o. 564 was introduced 
by Mr. Wray. 

These bills are so nearly alike that they may be consid- 
ered together. The main purpose is the same in all of 
them, since they all propose to abolish the office of police 
commissioner of the city of New York, and provide that 
hereafter the head of the Police Department shall be 
called the Board of Police. This is a mere change of 
name, without any change as to functions to be performed. 
Each bill also provides that not more than two of the 
Board of Police shall at any time belong to the same politi- 
cal party, or have the same political faith or opinions on 
State and national issues. The bills are not all in accord 
as to the time when these changes shall take place, nor as 
to the method of filling vacancies. 

The bills of Mr. Lawson and Mr. Wray provide that 
four commissioners shall be voted for by the electors at 
a general election, and offer a scheme of election by which 
both parties shall be evenly represented in the board; 
but, in addition, the Wray Bill provides that the superin- 
tendent of police shall be ex-officio a member of the board, 
which would raise its membership to five. 

The laws of the organization of the Police Board were 
formulated in what is known as the Consolidation Act, 
wliich brought together and consolidated all the laws 
affecting the city of New York in chapter 410 of the Laws 
of 1882. The Police Department is treated of in chapter 
8 of said act. This chapter was very materially amended 
in 1884 by chapter 180, page 200, of the laws of that year. 
Since that date there have been no police bills passed 
affecting materially the question that we are considering. 
The law of 1882, as amended by the law of 1884, pro- 
vided for four police commissioners to be appointed by 



POLICE LEGISLATION 237 

the mayor. !N^o attempt was made in the law to give the 
board a non-partisan character; and yet, in obedience to 
public sentiment, that practice was observed by all of the 
mayors having appointments to make until a recent date, 
when the board was made to consist of three Democrats 
and only one Eepublican. 

On the face of it, if there were an honest administration 
of the law by the appointing power, it is eminently fair 
and just that each party should be equally represented. 
Experience, however, has established that so long as the 
appointing power is with the mayor no good results in 
the administration of the city government can flow from 
such a party division of the board. 

It is believed, and it is undoubtedly true, that this 
division has laid the foundation for the deals and arrange- 
ments between party leaders which have been such a bane 
to the government of this city. Until the electors of this 
city appreciate that the public interests require the elec- 
tion of a mayor who is imbued with the sentunent that a 
good government for the city is the aim and purpose of 
his office, rather than the promotion of his party, no bene- 
fit is likely to be derived from a so-called non-partisan 
board. We are of the opinion, therefore, that there should 
be no change in the present law so long as the power of 
appointment remains with the mayor. It is better to leave 
the entire responsibility with him than to enact into the 
law that one-half of the board shall be Republicans, when 
the Republicans to be selected are to be designated by a 
Tammany mayor. 

The efficiency of the Police Department would un- 
doubtedly be promoted by a single head rather than by 
a board of four, if the single head were non-partisan and 
devoted to the interest of the city. The administration 



228 POLICE LEGISLATION 

of the Police Department should be, in fact and in spirit, 
emancipated and divorced from political parties. In a 
true conception of the formation of the Police Board, the 
commissioners should be regarded as non-partisan and 
judicial rather than political; and it should be held to be 
the plain duty of every police officer, in the exercise of 
his authority, to avoid all bias and discrimination on ac- 
count of political opinions or affiliations. In the light of 
past experience, police legislation should be directed to 
the enfranchisement of the department from all political 
influence and activity, and the impartial and judicial dis- 
charge of its duties. 

On February 1, 1894, a bill (No. 456) was introduced 
in the legislature by Mr. Sheffield. This bill proposes to 
increase materially the power of the superintendent, 
emancipating him still further from the partisan influence 
of the present commissioners. Such an act would un- 
doubtedly promote the efficiency of the Police Depart- 
ment. It is in the direction of concentrating the executive 
functions of the department, and to that extent is entitled 
to commendation. 

On January 18th a bill (No. 218) was introduced in the 
Assembly by Mr. Thornton. It is a general bill, applicable 
to all cities, counties, and towns, and seeks to compel a 
non-partisan administration of the various municipal gov- 
ernments of the State. As !N^ew York is not excepted, 
its provisions would seem to apply to this city. The bill 
as proposed is well intended, but vicious in principle, and 
should not be passed. 

In this connection we recommend legislation to remove 
from the Police Department the Bureau of Elections, and 
that some proper and safe commission be created to take 
charge of the bureau. 



POLICE LEGISLATION 229 

It cannot be too often impressed upon the people that 
reform by act of the legislature will always fail until the 
people, through their intelligence and regard for good 
government, rise to the demands of the occasion and elect 
a mayor who will be devoted to the interests of the city 
rather than to his party. 

If the laws now on the statute books were administered 
according to their spirit and intent, !N^ew York would have 
very nearly an ideal government. The fault is not so 
much with the laws as with the manner of executing them. 
It is the agents elected by the people to execute the laws 
who bring discredit upon the city government. The in- 
genuity of designing men is capable of perverting to the 
worst uses any law, however carefully drawn; yet we 
may do something by legislation to protect the rights of 
the people and make it more difficult for dishonest and 
partisan officers to work out a bad result from a good law. 

So far as the bills that we have been considering con- 
template the scheme of electing the Police Board, we 
question their utility. Too many officers are already 
elected on the general ticket. There should be more power 
conferred upon the mayor, rather than less, and he should 
be held responsible for his appointees. 

In our judgment the efficiency of the Police Commis- 
sioners would be weakened by subjecting them periodi- 
cally to a partisan contest. It would be well to pass a law 
forbidding any officer or official of the Police Department 
to collect or pay, directly or indirectly, any political as- 
sessment or money for any political purpose whatever. 

The Civil Service Law should be amended and strength- 
ened, and all persons seeking to enter the police service 
should be freely allowed to offer themselves for examina- 
tion, irrespective of political opinions or official favor. So 



230 POLICE LEGISLATION 

long as men secure appointments on the police force by 
what is popularly known as " a pull," or through the influ- 
ence of politicians, the character and efiiciency of the 
police will be lowered. 

The committee, therefore, recommend the adoption of 
the following resolutions : 

Resolved, That this club is opposed at this time to all 
mandatory legislation requiring the Police Commissioners 
to be constituted of persons of different political faith. 

Resolved, That the efficiency of the Police Department 
would be greatly promoted by a single head, if there were 
adequate means of securing the appointment of a man 
who would administer the affairs of the department re- 
gardless of political affiliations; but in view of the im- 
probability, amounting almost to a certainty, that such an 
appointment could not be secured, we do not recommend 
a single-headed commission. 

Resolved, That we are in favor of the passage of the 
Assembly Bill ^o. 456, introduced on February 1, 1894, 
by Mr. Sheffield, increasing the power of the superin- 
tendent of the police, as tending to increase the efficiency 
of the executive branch of the Police Department. 

Resolved, That we favor the passage of a judiciously 
prepared law which should remove from the control of the 
Police Department the Bureau of Elections, and create 
a separate, non-partisan bureau. 

Your committee also recommend the adoption of the 
following resolutions : 

Resolved, That a law should be enacted transferring the 
auditing of all accounts of the Police Department to the 
Department of Finance of the city of New York. 



POLICE LEGISLATION 231 

Besolved, That legislation directed toward the enfran- 
chisement of the Police Department from all political 
activity and influences should be sought; and that the 
rules of the civil service, so far as applicable to that de- 
partment, should be strictly and impartially enforced. 

'Eew York, February lY, 1894. 



MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 

Your committee, at the outset, congratulate the club 
and the country on the splendid results of the last gen- 
eral election. In the presence of business depression and 
gloomy forebodings the country entered upon the memor- 
able contest with a most satisfactory result. The power 
of the people to rectify all the evils of our complicated 
system of government has been demonstrated. It only 
remains for the standard-bearers who have been selected 
to complete the work. 

Great as has been the success in the election, it should 
be borne in mind that the greater work of securing the 
fruits of that election is still before us. It is the duty of 
this club, in every possible way, to sustain and give en- 
couraging support to all those who are engaged in com- 
pleting the reform so auspiciously begun. It is the work 
of the future to uproot and exterminate the wrongs of 
the past that now confronts us. 

It is to this important matter that we desire to call the 
attention of the members of this club and the citizens gen- 
erally. The task of reforming our municipal government 
is herculean, and requires the highest wisdom and best 
abilities of the citizens of the city. 

A review of the evils that have existed will give point 
and force to the suggestions that we make in this report 
for future action. 

Municipal government in all the large cities of this 
Union has generally been perverted for plunder. The 



MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 233 

fathers of the republic founded a system of free govern- 
ment by the people and for the people. The ideal that 
they projected was as near perfect as anything yet devel- 
oped in the history of civilization. Yet, strangely enough, 
the system has often been a dismal failure in municipal 
affairs. Many attempts have heretofore been made to 
rectify the evil and to lead the people out of the clutches 
of the plunderers who have seized and held municipal 
governments for their private gain. Many men have 
been led to give up in despair and say that the American 
system, as applied to cities, is a failure. They have often 
declared that the evil is of such a nature that it cannot be 
eradicated. In all other respects the American system 
has worked reasonably well, and with as little fraud and 
as little friction as pertain to any system, taking human 
nature as it is. 

The questions presented are : " Is the foul blot of 
municipal fraud and municipal bad government so deeply 
seated that it must remain forever? Is it beyond the 
reach of intelligence, virtue, and integrity?" If so, this 
cancerous growth upon the body politic will ultimately 
and surely undermine our whole system of government. 
We are not among those who believe the evil, gigantic 
as it is, beyond cure. 

The scope and purpose of this report are to deal with 
the evil in the city of New York. In the presence of all 
that has so far been developed by the investigation of the 
Lexow Committee, the great work remains still to be per- 
formed. The methods and errors of the past should be 
studied as beacon lights to save us from disaster in the 
future. 

The chief head and front of the offender in this munici- 
pality has been a benevolent organization known as the 



234 MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 

Tammany Society. The orgauization, in its inception, 
was never intended for the purpose to which it has been 
debased. It has assumed to itself the functions of guiding 
and organizing the political movements of the Democratic 
party in this city. Justly considered, in its action it has 
performed none of the proper functions of a political 
party. Its methods have not been democratic, but auto- 
cratic. Its results have been plunder, fraud, and the de- 
basement of the American system of government. It has 
been simply and only, so far as its managers are con- 
cerned, a business corporation or combination of individ- 
uals for private gain and public plunder. It has seized 
upon all the offices of the city, and has controlled, 
through legal machinery, the magnificent annual resources 
of the city, amounting to over $34,000,000. It has de- 
rived an enormous revenue from its system of assessments 
upon officers and employees of the city, from the highest 
to the lowest. It is hard to account for the suddenly 
acquired wealth of many of the managers of that organiza- 
tion upon any other theory than that there has been in 
vogue a relentless system of plundering the city, the citi- 
zens, and the employees of the government. 

To administer the trust of disposing of revenue amount- 
ing to $34,000,000 requires the agency of the highest 
order of talent and integrity. The charge is not that all 
of this money is misappropriated. The gravamen of the 
charge is that some of it is misappropriated. It is in 
vain for Tammany magnates to point out any good work 
they do. Tweed and his fellow-conspirators could justly 
do the same thing. The demands of good government are 
that all, not a part, of the public money shall be properly 
appropriated, with the same integrity with which well- 
conducted private enterprises are carried on. 



MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 235 

The Tammany Society has aided and abetted the most 
gigantic frauds upon the ballot-box, and has found in these 
frauds its buttress and bulwark. Wherever vice is reek- 
ing and ignorance prevails, there it has found the chief 
support of its organization. In proportion as vice, crime, 
and ignorance prevail in the most degraded portion of our 
city, in the same proportion has the strength of Tammany 
increased. 

The people have determined to throw off this disgrace- 
ful burden. No man of intelligence who has given the 
subject the slightest thought has ever doubted that the 
vast majority of the electors of this city are honest and 
desire a clean, able, and honest government, and that they 
have the power, whenever they choose to exercise it, to 
procure this result. One of the chief causes why the city 
has been so long enthralled is because party managers on 
both sides have insisted that in municipal affairs the party 
organization should remain intact. One of the favorite 
arguments that has been used and repeated time and 
again in both parties has been that it is necessary for 
the good of the party to keep the same party organization 
in city matters ; that to abandon the national and State 
party organizations in city matters for the sake of the city 
and support a reform city ticket would demoralize the 
respective parties on national and State issues. We think 
this is entirely fallacious and will not bear examination, 
j^either the Kepublican nor the Democratic party by it- 
self, as a national or a State party, exists or can live one 
minute for the benefit of the city of ISTew York. National 
questions and State questions are in no way related to or 
dependent upon the character and integrity of the city 
government. Men may justly differ in their views upon 
the tariff, upon currency, upon banking, upon silver, upon 



236 MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 

interstate commerce, upon foreign relations, and upon a 
multitude of questions that pertain to the national parties, 
and yet may unite for the purpose of a good city govern- 
ment. It is not easy to see what connection there is be- 
tween the tariff, the affairs of the navy, and other kindred 
subjects, and the building of docks, opening and paving 
of streets, extending the waterworks of the city, putting 
out its fires, or policing the city, and other matters per- 
taining to the government of the corporation. We see 
no reason why men should surrender their personal views 
on national and State issues because they cooperate for 
a pure city government. In many respects the city of 
New York is like a business corporation created for the 
benefit of the citizens, and, like such corporations, should 
be governed on business principles, although it is on a 
larger scale. This analogy is not entirely true, but very 
nearly so. 

It is well known that all business organizations are con- 
trolled and managed by men of different political views. 
In selecting these men the question is never asked as to 
their views on national questions, but they are selected 
for their fitness to discharge the duties to be performed. 
In the respective corporations men cooperate and co-work 
with the perfect understanding that they have diverse 
political views and that they surrender none of them by 
such cooperation. The employees of these institutions are 
never selected because of their connection with one party 
or the other, or by reason of their efficiency as party man- 
agers or " heelers." The sole and only question is and 
should be, " Are they competent and qualified to perform 
and discharge the duties of the position in the corporation 
that employs them ? " The corporation of the city of New 
York, as a business corporation, should be run and man- 



MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 237 

aged upon the same principles on which other well- 
managed corporations are conducted. 

The great experiment of attempting to manage this 
city on a non-partisan basis is about to be entered upon. 
In view of the failure of all past methods, the people have 
decreed by their vote that this new experiment shall be 
tried. The standard-bearers have been selected mth the 
distinct pledge that the experiment shall be attempted in 
good faith. It is distinctly understood that no man by 
cooperating in this new method of administering the af- 
fairs of the city surrenders or abates in any way or 
manner his affiliations with the political party of his 
choice; that upon national and State issues every citizen 
may take his position in and align himself with the party 
of his choice, and his reason for doing so or his activity in 
that party are not to be subjects of question within the do- 
main of the reform party for city government. It is be- 
lieved by all good citizens that such an administration of 
the affairs of the cities will remove the foul blot of corrupt 
municipal government from American institutions, and will 
demonstrate the wisdom of our fathers in establishing the 
basis of our government as they did. It will no longer be 
said that in all other respects the system was rightly con- 
ceived and properly adopted, but that it is not adapted to 
municipal government. The occupation of men who follow 
politics for a business in municipalities will be gone. Both 
parties, as national and State parties, will remain in the 
field, contending for the principles they espouse, and 
will succeed or fail as they shall succeed or fail in im- 
pressing their respective views upon the voters. Any 
attempt to build up a party machine for the benefit of 
either party out of the great reform movement which 
has been so auspiciously inaugurated in the city of 



238 MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 

'New York will surely recoil upon the heads of those who 
undertake it. 

The attempt to have a municipal government upon a 
non-partisan basis has been demanded by the people. The 
pledge of the standard-bearers chosen was given to the 
people that they should have such a government. The 
experiment ought, in good faith and with persistent effort, 
to be made. Party managers, as such, whose purpose is 
to gain advantage for a party rather than to secure a good 
administration, must be made to stand back and keep 
their hands off this government. No party can success- 
fully flourish and for a long time be successful which is 
not based upon integrity of administration as its chief 
cornerstone. It may secure temjDorary success, but its 
overthrow is sure to follow. The best possible basis for 
the success of a party in a great municipality is to show 
ability to govern the city with a clean, honest purpose. A 
success so won will be abiding and invigorating. 

At the outset the administration of Mayor Strong is 
handicapped by the presence in the municipal government 
of a body of office-holders who have been placed in their 
respective positions by the abhorrent influence so familiar 
to the people. The election of last November in this city 
better never have been won unless it be followed by 
legislation such as will pave the way to the inauguration 
of genuine reform. The legislature should pass, at the 
earliest practicable day, a bill giving the mayor of this 
city the power of removal and appointment to all offices 
fairly within the scope of his duties. Any failure to 
pass such a bill, or any tampering with this measure by 
any one in the supposed interests of persons or parties, 
will receive the severe condemnation of the citizens. The 
public are in no mood to be trifled with in this matter. 



MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 239 

They are determined that the incoming administration 
shall have an opportunity to redeem its pledges; that no 
excuses shall be made or accepted for a failure to do so. 
]\[ayor Strong is powerless to accomplish much in the way 
of reform without legislative aid; and that aid should 
come speedily, without conditions or limitations that can 
by any possibility embarrass the execution of the purpose 
declared by the people to have a reform administration. 

As a club we have unbounded faith in the integrity of 
purpose of Mayor Strong to fulfil all his pledges and give 
the city a genuine non-partisan business administration. 
Republicans as we are, devoted to the principles of that 
party, believing that the prosperity of the country de- 
pends upon the success of our principles, we see clearly 
that this city's true interests will be promoted if a good 
government shall result from this great reform movement. 
Any other seeming success would be no success, but a 
dismal failure. 

Xo man in this city was ever confronted with a greater 
task than that which confronts the mayor. With all con- 
fidence in his integrity of purpose and his ability to exe- 
cute the great commission which has been laid upon him, 
we should never forget our duty as citizens of rendering 
him at all times our moral support and counsel on the 
lines laid do^vn for him and accepted by him during the 
last election. 

It does not require the inspiration of a prophet to pre- 
dict a great triumph for the mayor if he shall adhere at 
all times to the pledge he has given, and the intelligent 
citizens of this city should not falter in their steady sup- 
port of him in his great work. 

The fangs of Tammany's misrule have fastened too 
deeply upon the body politic to be withdrawn without 



240 MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION 

drastic measures. There is great reason to fear that the 
sappers and miners in politics are already at work destroy- 
ing the foundation of the structure of municipal reform 
that the people have decreed shall be built. 

There are many proposed measures of reform of press- 
ing necessity that we do not discuss, among them the 
reorganization of the Police Department. The considera- 
tion of that question should be kept in abeyance until the 
report of the Lexow Committee shall be made. At the 
present moment the bill giving the mayor power to re- 
move from ojffice and appoint to the same should receive 
the immediate and early attention of the legislature, as a 
measure essential to the further progress of the work of 
reform that is before the people of this city. 

We, therefore, recommend the adoption of the following 
resolutions : 

Eesolved, That the legislature of the State of ^^Tew York 
be respectfully and earnestly requested to give its early 
attention to the passage of a bill providing for the mayor's 
power of removal of present incumbents in office. Such 
a bill is demanded by the best sentiment of the city, and 
its passage should not be, and cannot rightfully be, ham- 
pered or embarrassed by any considerations of party expe- 
diency. The needs of the city in this matter are paramount 
to all other considerations. 

Resolved, That we heartily approve the recommenda- 
tion in Governor Morton's message that prompt action be 
taken by the legislature upon this important measure. 

New York, January 3, 1895. 

Note. — A portion of this report is taken from a former report 
not adopted by the committee. 



A PEOPOSED BILL OK COMPULSOKY 
EDUCATION 

This bill purports to be in favor of compulsory educa- 
tion and in support of the common schools. 

Nothing is more important or desirable to the preserva- 
tion of our institutions than the universal dissemination 
of knowledge ; and, as a means to that end, the most vigor- 
ous support of the public schools is needed, consistent with 
individual liberty. It is believed that every member of 
this club is a stanch supporter of the common-school sys- 
tem, in common with the great body of the citizens, and 
would do nothing to weaken its hold upon public affec- 
tion or impair in any way its usefulness. 

The proposed bill is so extraordinary in its provisions, 
as to require a careful and critical examination. It in- 
corporates within it certain principles and methods of 
action that are entirely inconsistent with individual liberty 
and the sacred rights of the family. The bill seems to be, 
in some measure, a substitute for the act passed in 1874, 
but with additional powers and limitations that make it 
a dangerous and vicious bill. 

The first section provides that every parent and guard- 
ian shall cause all children between the ages of seven 
and eleven to attend some public school in the city or 
school district in which such child shall reside, or some 
school other than a public school, and in which at least 
certain common-school branches are taught. 

The second section provides that for every neglect of 
16 



24a A PROPOSED BILL ON COMPULSORY EDUCATION 

the duty thus imposed in the first section the guilty person 
commits a misdemeanor and is subject to fine and im- 
prisonment therefor. 

The third section does provide that a child may be 
taught at home, but such teaching must be by a " teacher 
duly qualified under the laws of this State, or approved by 
a school commissioner or by a superintendent of schools, 
by whatever name known, in a city of the State." 

Section 15 authorizes the employment of town con- 
stables to aid in executing the provisions of the act and 
provides for payment of their fees. 

The seventeenth section provides that the school authori- 
ties may appoint special officers to discharge the duties pro- 
vided in certain sections of this act, and may fix fees or 
salary for the payment of the same. 

There are various other sections of the bill that would 
be open to criticism, but the limits of this paper render 
their consideration impossible. 

The bill invades the privacy of the domestic circle and 
supersedes the authority of the parent in the education 
of children of tender age, and substitutes therefor persons 
authorized by act of the legislature to discharge these deli- 
cate and important duties. 

Although section 3 tolerates education in the family 
circle, it does not leave that to the choice and discretion of 
the parent, but provides that that teaching shall be under 
the supervision and control of a " school commissioner 
or a superintendent of schools, by whatever name known, 
in a city of this State." The same section also graciously 
provides that, in case a child is taught at home, the instruc- 
tion in the branches specified in the bill shall be at least 
equivalent to that given in the public schools. 

There is also a provision that, in case of the physical or 



A PROPOSED BILL ON COMPULSORY EDUCATION 243 

mental condition of a child being such as to render its 
attendance at school inexpedient or impracticable, a physi- 
cian's certificate may remit the penalty. 

The general effect of the bill is to bring all matters of 
education — whether in the family circle or in public or 
private schools — under the supervision of school superin- 
tendents or school commissioners. The neglect of the 
duty of educating children according to these public offi- 
cials is made a misdemeanor. This bill proceeds upon the 
theory that the artificial and intangible body known as 
" the government " is a better guardian of children than 
those to whom they owe their existence, and that the 
most ignorant and incompetent public-school teacher in 
the State is qualified to train any young child, while the 
most refined, intelligent, virtuous, and loving mother of 
that child, if for any reason she fail to obtain the consent 
of the school authorities, is not competent for that pur- 
pose. It calls for interference between parent and child 
at precisely that tender age when the character of the lat- 
ter is unformed, and when it is in the most need of 
parental guidance and teaching. An attempt to enforce 
the pro\'isions of this bill will be likely to lead to violence 
and breaches of the peace. 

However desirable general education may be, it never 
can be desirable to invade the rights of parents and the 
sanctity of the family in the manner proposed by this 
act, under the guise of public instruction. 

The bill specifies certain fundamental subjects of edu- 
cation as essential to fit a child as a member of the State. 
True education consists in the harmonious and symmetri- 
cal development of mind and character, and both should 
proceed together, as far as practicable. In most cases no 
one is as likely to know the character of children so well as 



244 A PROPOSED BILL ON COMPULSORY EDUCATION 

parents, and only in exceptional cases should be taken from 
them the absolute right to determine the education and the 
kind of education they shall receive. The object of the 
public-school system is to aid parents in the education of 
their children, and not to override the parental control or 
usurp its place. The bill reduces parents to the humiliat- 
ing position of being obliged to obtain the consent of the 
school authorities before they can teach their own chil- 
dren or select a teacher for them at home, and to the risk 
of fine and imprisonment if they act without such consent. 
Such legislation as this tends to destroy individuality, and 
substitutes therefor State control in matters that should 
always belong to the individual. It is a long step in the 
direction of Socialism, where all property and all indi- 
viduals are placed under the dictation of the government. 

Dr. Kittridge, of this city, recently said : " The home is 
the grandest university in the world, and to its wise and 
religious education we owe, more than to any educating 
influence, the scholars and patriots and benefactors of our 
race." This we believe to be a true statement of the value 
of the home and of home influence; and whatever evils 
may exist touching the education of certain classes of our 
citizens, those evils cannot by any possibility justify the 
subversion of the homes and home control of children, 
which serve to lay the foundation for all that is best and 
holiest in our lives and our country. 

The tendency of this bill, if enforced, will be to weaken 
parental authority over the children, and divide respon- 
sibility between the parents and the State authorities for 
their education. It is in the line of the most vicious class 
of legislation with which we are afflicted — that of State 
interference and control in matters with which the State 
of right ought not to interfere. However paternal the 



A PROPOSED BILL ON COMPULSORY EDUCATION 245 

government may be, in this field it should keep its hands 
off. Whatever may be said in favor of enforced educa- 
tion of those whose education is entirely and grossly 
neglected, nothing can justify the public scrutiny and 
control of family education as contemplated by this act. 
We, therefore, submit the following : 

Resolved, That the Union League Club deems this bill, 
in the particulars mentioned in this report, a menacing 
invasion of the sacred rights of the family in the matter of 
the education of children, and we request the members of 
the legislature to so vote as to defeat the passage of the 
bill. 

I^ew York, January 28, 1890. 



EEPORT OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

The Committee on Political Reform respectfully report 
as follows : 

At the commencement of the current year the country 
had just passed through the most important general elec- 
tion that had taken place since 1860. The principles of 
the Republican party during the canvass had been dis- 
cussed in the press and on the platform, and the verdict 
of the people had been taken in favor of Republican prin- 
ciples in national affairs. In State affairs, in this State, it 
was a divided result, the Democracy having secured the 
executive and State offices, while the Republican party 
secured the legislature. 

It is not too much to say that the public was weary of 
political discussions, and the committee deemed it advis- 
able not to make many reports. 

The club referred no questions to your committee for 
its consideration. 

During the winter of 1889 there was pending in the 
legislature the important question of prison labor. On 
January 29th this committee made a carefully considered 
report on that subject, which was adopted by the club. 
Some of the members of the committee took an active part 
in promoting the passage of the Prison Labor Bill of last 
winter. Late in the spring of 1889 the chairman of the 
committee, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, resigned his chairman- \\ 
ship, he having been appointed to the honorable position 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 247 

of minister to the republic of France. The committee 
take this occasion to record their high appreciation of his 
ability and uniform courtesy. His learning and varied 
experience made him a sagacious and safe counsellor. 

In October the committee elected a chairman to fill the 
vacancy. 

In December a report was made in favor of high license 
which was adopted by the club. 

Herewith is submitted a report on ballot reform. This 
reform is believed to be one of the most pressing and im- 
portant of the day, and no occasion should be omitted to 
help it forward. 

The committee are impressed with the idea that all great 
movements and reforms are carried forward by the re- 
peated and persistent support of the friends of the meas- 
ures. It has required constant effort for centuries to bring 
the world to its present state of morals and civilization. 
This club is committed bv its historv and its articles of 
association to reform measures. Its influence will be of 
little value if it fails to discuss these reforms fearlessly 
and persistently. All questions that greatly move the 
people and that finally result in practical good need to be 
presented from time to time in the various lights in which 
such questions can be viewed. The committee have acted 
upon what they understood to be the desire of the club, and 
presented as briefly and sharply as it could only important 
public questions. 

Various subjects have been brought before the commit- 
tee, and are now under consideration, but no reports have 
yet been agreed upon. 

I^ew York, January, 9, 1890. 



EEPORT OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

The Committee on Political Reform respectfully sub- 
mits the following report : 

Various subjects have been considered by your com- 
mittee within the past year, although but three reports 
have been brought before the club during that time. The 
committee have been mindful of the desire of the club 
not to be asked to express its opinion except upon matters 
of general importance. It has recognized the repeated 
declarations of the club that it is a Republican club, and 
that all its actions taken upon public questions shall be 
in harmony with the doctrines and policy of that political 
party. The principles of that party having been adopted 
by the country at the last presidential election, it was not 
deemed wise or necessary during the past year to restate 
them before the club. The last congressional elections 
having sho\\Ti an apparent reversal of the former decision 
by the country, there will probably be a renewal of the 
discussion of these principles, in which discussion this 
club will no doubt take a prominent part. 

It is not the province of this committee, in its annual 
report, to discuss the causes and influences that led to our 
defeat, but this committee deems this a fitting occasion to 
declare its firm faith in the doctrines of the party, and 
its belief that the country will again declare itself in its 
favor, w^hen the misrepresentations and the false presenta- 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 249 

tions of its policy and the efiFects of its policy are exposed 
and understood. 

At the January meeting this committee made a report 
in favor of the Saxton Ballot-Keform Bill, which report 
was unanimously adopted by the club. The act, as finally 
passed by the legislature of New York, was not all that 
was desired by those who were foremost in this important 
reform. Yet it is believed that great and desirable ad- 
vance has been made in this matter. 

At the February meeting the committee made a report 
upon a bill then pending before the legislature, entitled, 
" An Act to Secure to Children the Benefits of an Ele- 
mentary Education, and Making an Appropriation There- 
for." It was with great reluctance that the committee 
reported against some of the provisions of this bill, fearing 
that it might be construed as opposition to the common- 
school system that is so important to the country. The 
bill was deemed to be so fundamentally wrong, in provid- 
ing a scheme that invaded the sacred rights of the home 
and family, that the committee felt constrained to report 
against it. The report was adopted by the club, and a 
copy of the same sent to each member of the legislature. 
It is believed that the report had considerable influence 
in defeating the objectionable legislation. 

At the ^larch meeting the committee reported in favor 
of a more liberal appropriation by Congress for the work 
of the Civil Service Commission. This club has always 
been a stanch supporter of the doctrine of civil-service 
reform. It has at times criticized the pretenses of those 
who use the name of civil-service reform for mere parti- 
san advantage, but has always cast whatever influence it 
may possess on the side of fltness and integrity as essential 
qualities for official positions. It is believed that this re- 



250 REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

form has been heretofore greatly aided by this club, and 
that hereafter, on all proper occasions, it will be found in 
the front ranks of its supporters and defenders. 

Among the events of the year the committee reports, 
with unfeigned sorrow, the death of one of its members, 
Mr. Franklin A. Paddock. He has been a member of the 
committee five years. For a portion of that time he was 
in poor health and unable to attend the meetings of the 
committee. When able to do so, he was constant in his 
attendance, and was an able and conscientious member. 
In the close intimacy of the committee room we all learned 
to respect and admire him. A memorial of Mr. Paddock 
was prepared by one of his associates and entered in the 
minutes, a copy of which memorial has been sent to each 
member of the club. 

^N'ew York, January 8, 1891. 



REPORT OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

The Committee on Political Reform respectfully sub- 
mit the following report : 

The committee have held the usual regular monthly ses- 
sions, but have submitted only two reports for the action 
of the club. Many important questions have been con- 
sidered and are now pending before it. 

The deplorable event at New Orleans startled the civil- 
ized world, and it seems fitting that this club should con- 
tribute its influence on the side of that almost universal 
condemnation of that event, which found expression in all 
civilized communities. The report of this committee on 
that subject was adopted on the 9th day of April last. It 
may gratify the members of the club to know that it was 
quoted and commented upon extensively in this country 
and in Europe. The comments, except in the Southern 
States, were generally commendatory, showing that the 
views therein expressed were those approved by the more 
thoughtful writers of the times. In that report it was 
pointed out that the root of that difficulty was to be 
found in our lax laws touching ignorant and criminal 
immigration. 

On the 14th day of May a further report was submitted, 
pointing out the peril to our institutions from the almost 
criminal neglect of the judiciary in not enforcing the pres- 
ent laws when naturalizing immigrants, many of whom 
are totallv unfit to be clothed with the elective franchise. 



252 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

In this report it was recommended that a petition be ex- 
tensively circulated throughout the United States, asking 
Congress to change the naturalization laws so as to throw 
greater safeguards around the elective franchise. This 
report was adopted unanimously by the club. As the cir- 
culation of this petition would require the expenditure of 
a considerable sum of money, the club referred the ques- 
tion of circulating the petition to the Executive Commit- 
tee. The matter thus passed out of the hands of this com- 
mittee, and the committee are not advised what action, if 
any, was taken by the Executive Committee. It is proper 
to state that recent events in this city, just prior to our 
late election, have added force to the recommendations in 
the report, and are illustrative of the evils and inefficiency 
of our present laws as now administered by some of the 
judges. Your committee find no occasion to abate in any 
manner their criticisms upon the conduct of the judiciary. 
This subject cannot be too often or too earnestly pressed 
upon the attention of the people. This committee has not 
deemed it wise, up to this time, to make a further report 
on these all-important questions of immigration and natur- 
alization, in view of the fact that the general government 
had appointed a commission to visit Europe and report on 
the subject of immigration. It is hoped that, when their 
report is made, new and material facts will be brought to 
light. 

This club was organized to exert influence upon the gov- 
ernment and build up and sustain a sound public senti- 
ment in favor of the maintenance of the same. In its 
inception its inspiration was patriotism and an earnest 
desire to save the government in its peril. On this ques- 
tion its record is one of which every member is proud. In 
its action it worked earnestly in harmony with a Kepub- 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 253 

lican administration. When the war ended, the club con- 
tinued its earnest work supporting Republican measures, 
and has continued to give such measures its hearty sup- 
port up to this time. Its national reputation has been 
built upon its political action, until now eminent represen- 
tative Eepublicans from almost every N^orthern State are 
in our membership. So far as this club has a wide reputa- 
tion at this time, it is based chiefly on its political char- 
acter. It is idle to refer to its war record and what it 
accomplished as the only end and purpose of its existence. 
Its life and history for more than a quarter of a century 
since the war closed are a constant protest against any 
such narrow view. The club is, and always has been, a 
political club, with views upon all great political ques- 
tions. The vitalizing force here always has been political 
action. That the founders of the club contemplated its 
continued activity in the political field is shown by its 
adoption, immediately after the close of the war, in 1866, 
of the 4th article of association, in these words : " It shall 
be the duty of the club to resist and expose corruption 
and promote reform in our national, State, and municipal 
affairs, and to elevate the idea of American citizenship." 
It would be difficult, with so few words, to choose other 
words that would open as wide a field of political action. 
The traditions of the club and the personnel of its mem- 
bership point with unerring certainty to the lines within 
whicli political action should be taken by your committee. 
A political club must bring its influence to bear upon a 
political party, to accomplish practical results in any free 
country. This is, and doubtless will remain, a Republican 
club. Believing that this is a true statement of the views 
of a vast majority of its members, this committee have, 
without hesitation or doubt, when occasion has called for 



254 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

it, sustained Republican measures and policy. While this 
club is distinctively Eepublican, it is not by any means 
limited to questions of party measures, but has always 
taken high and broad grounds upon all great and im- 
portant matters. 

This committee are again called upon to report the death 
of one of their members, Morris M. Budlong, late secre- 
tary of this committee, who fell dead on the morning of 
the 30th day of November, 1891, while in the discharge 
of his professional duties. He was a useful and con- 
scientious member of the committee, and his loss will be 
greatly felt by all his associates. 

New York, January 14, 1892. 



EEPOKT OF THE 
COMMITTEE OX POLITICAL EEFORM 

The Committee on Political Reform respectfully sub- 
mits the following report : 

The past year has been an eventful year in the political 
history of this country. Your committee has done what 
it could to place this club on record upon numerous public 
questions, in accord with its well-known principles and 
traditions. The club has long stood in this city and before 
the country as an exponent of the essential doctrines and 
policy of the Republican party. Your committee has, to 
the best of its ability, expounded and sustained those 
doctrines and that policy. 

At the general election in 1891 the electors of this State 
elected a Republican Senate. Soon after the election, 
rumors began to emanate from the executive chamber at 
Albany that the Democrats would secure a majority of 
the Senate. So well founded was the belief that, in this 
State at least, the results of the baUot-box would be ac- 
cepted as final, and not be questioned or defeated by any 
party, that no great uneasiness was felt by any honest 
citizen. The claim of Democratic success was looked upon 
as only the usual claim of the defeated party for political 
effect. It was not easy to believe that the chief executive 
of this great State, David B. Hill, had actually formed, 
and intended to carry out, a scheme of fraud of unparal- 
leled audacity and wickedness. The sense of security in 
the foundation of our govermnent was rudely shaken as 
the great conspiracy gradually developed and the figure of 
the governor of the State came into view as the great con- 



256 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

spirator in a fraud that ought to have consigned the gover- 
nor and all those engaged in it to everlasting political 
infamy. Your committee deemed the matter of so grave 
import that this club should record its earnest protest 
against the fraud. Accordingly, your committee sub- 
mitted, at the March meeting, a report of the leading facts 
of the case, which report was unanimously adopted, mak- 
ing a record here of the views of this body on the great 
conspiracy against the ballot-box. As a corollary of this 
fraud the Democrats in Albany introduced a bill, which 
they finally passed, destroying the non-partisan character 
of the Boards of Inspectors of Election in this city. At 
the April meeting your committee presented a statement 
of the dangerous character of this proposed legislation, 
with a resolution protesting against the passage of this 
bill. This report and resolution were unanimously 
adopted by the club. Thus the record of this club is 
complete against these two great crimes against the purity 
of the ballot-box. It is a fact to cause serious reflections, 
that the state of public sentiment as to the dangerous 
tendencies of such political crimes is so low that, instead 
of the just contempt of an indignant people jealous of 
their rights following the chief conspirators into that ob- 
scurity they so richly deserve, new honors are heaped 
upon them. The future student of the politics of these 
times will be puzzled to find out by what logic or under 
what strange influences the purists and reformers, with 
high-sounding professions of a desire for the highest ideals 
of government, could constantly ally themselves with a 
party with such a record. 

At the October meeting your committee presented a re- 
port on the great and leading question of protection, which 
report was adopted by the club. The record and history 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 257 

of this club have been one of unfaltering support of this 
important and beneficial national policy. No believer in 
this policy can have his belief in the same shaken by the 
temporary defeat which we have sustained. The history 
of the country shows that prosperity has always attended 
it when its fiscal policy has been framed on the lines of 
protection, and depression and distress have followed 
when its fiscal policy has been framed on the lines of low 
tariff or free trade. Thirty years of unparalleled pros- 
perity is the record made by the Republican policy. Dur- 
ing that time a new generation has grown up who has 
seen fit to be guided by theorists rather than to follow the 
sure lamp of experience. Those now living who have had 
experience of Democratic administration of governmental 
financial policy are comparatively few. If the Democratic 
party applies to our fiscal policy the principles it professes, 
this new generation will soon have the experience that 
will enable it also to appreciate the wide difference be- 
tween Democratic and Republican doctrine on the tariff. 
Assuming that the Democrats in good faith apply the 
principles that they taught, we may confidently look for- 
ward to a renewal of the great discussion, when we will 
have not only our history, but the then present experience, 
to illustrate and enforce the wisdom of protection to 
American industries as the true American policy. 

During the past year two deaths have occurred in your 
committee. On the 9th day of February John J. Knox 
departed this life. For many years he had been a member 
of this committee. His well-stored mind, especially upon 
all financial matters, made him a most valuable and useful 
member. He was regular in his attendance upon the 
meetings of the committee, and contributed his full share 
of valuable information in all its counsels. No mem- 
17 



258 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

ber of the club was better known- by the club at large than 
was he. JSTo words of eulogy by us can add anything to 
his name and fame, which were national. We can only 
record our high appreciation of him as a man and asso- 
ciate. His loss is deeply felt by your committee, and it 
feels that his place cannot be filled. 

On the 26th of April Col. Kichard B. Irwin, another 
member of this body, died. Mr. Irwin had not as long 
service on the committee as Mr. Knox, but during that 
short service he had won the respect and admiration of all 
the members of the committee. Mr. Irwin was not as 
widelv known in the club as was Mr. Knox. He was a 
retiring, modest man, and only those who became well 
acquainted with him could appreciate him. In early life, 
during the Eebellion, he entered one of our Western 
armies. He was frequently promoted for his gallantry, 
and won the commendations of his superior officers. After 
the war he spent some time travelling in Europe and 
observing the institutions of the Old World. For many 
years before his death he devoted himself to literary pur- 
suits, and was employed upon the staff of one of the great 
'New York dailies. He was there, as is common with so 
many other bright writers, hidden from public view be- 
hind the impersonality of the corporation which published 
his newspaper work. He was a man whose mind was well 
stored with useful knowledge, and his conversations were 
instructive and deliglitfully entertaining. To know him 
well was to appreciate him highly. By his death this 
committee lost one of its brightest and most useful mem- 
bers, and it takes this occasion to record, though imper- 
fectlv, its estimate of his character. 

New York, January 12, 1893. 



EEPORT OF THE 
COMMITTEE 01^ POLITICAL REFORM 

The Committee on Political Reform respectfully sub- 
mits the following report : 

Shortly jDrior to our last annual meeting the Republican 
party had suffered the most disastrous defeat that had 
occurred to it since 1860. Admitting the defeat, your 
committee, in its annual report, indulged in the predic- 
tion that " if the Democratic party applies the principles 
it professes to our fiscal policy, this new generation will 
soon have the experience that will enable it to appre- 
ciate the difference between Democratic and Republican 
doctrine on the tariff." We also suggested that, while 
defeated, the discussion of the great principles was not 
ended, and that it would again be resumed, aided by what 
would be " the then present experience to illustrate and 
enforce the wisdom of protection to American industries 
as the true American policy." 

These suggestions were made before the inauguration 
of the present administration. Already the evil effects 
of the installation of a Democratic administration have 
been made apparent to everybody. The prostration of 
business, the loss of property, and the appalling distress of 
the laboring men are something unknown in our history, 
except at the end of the two great eras of Democratic 
government which preceded the financial disasters of 1837 
and 1857. 

We do not refer to these matters at this time for the 



260 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

purpose of entering into a lengthy discussion of the con- 
dition of the country, or of the remedies that ought to be 
applied; but we do refer to them as evidence of the msdom 
and soundness of the principles of the Republican party 
that have been so stoutly and pei*sistently maintained by 
this club. Deplorable as the condition of the country is, 
we feel satisfaction in saying, as a club, that we are not 
responsible for the disasters. 

If the teachings of this club had been followed, we con- 
fidently believe that the country to-day would be in a 
prosperous condition. We feel justified in declaring anew 
our fealty and loyalty to the principles and policy of the 
Eepublican party, and our purpose on all fitting occasions 
in the future to maintain these principles and that policy 
with the same vigor and the same earnestness that we 
have maintained them in the past. 

Your committee was impressed with the changed posi- 
tion of things at the beginning of the year, when it found 
itself out of harmony with the general govermnent. Here- 
tofore the attitude of the club has been generally one of 
defending and maintaining the principles of the govern- 
ment at Washington. For the first time in many years 
its position is changed to one of criticism and attack upon 
such administration. The times and occasions for such 
criticism and attack only come as the policy of the ad- 
ministration develops. 

At the April meeting your committee presented a re- 
port upon the action of the late Eepublican administration 
touching the Hawaiian Islands. The information then at 
hand was meagre as to the events that had occurred at 
Honolulu. We did deem it safe and proper, however, 
to sustain our own administration. In April this report 
was defeated at a small meeting of the club, where there 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 261 

were less than eighty members present and voting. It is 
not for us to criticize its action, but it is not improper to 
state that the position taken by this body failed to con- 
vince the committee of the error of its report. It is proper 
to state that the action of the club in defeating that report 
has frequently, and up to a late date, been refeiTcd to 
by the advocates of the present administration and of its 
policy toward these islands as in some measure condemna- 
torv of the last administration. Whether it is a fortunate 
circumstance, and one that is satisfactory to the club, we 
cannot state. The committee is satisfied that it did its duty 
in the premises. 

At the October meeting your committee presented a 
report in some measure reviewing the history of the Demo- 
cratic party and the then present condition of the country, 
and undertook to point out what we believe to be the great 
blunder of the country in voting for a change of admin- 
istration. This report was unanimously adopted. Subse- 
quently the State Committee accepted the report as a cam- 
paign document and circulated over 200,000 copies. 

The successful elections that were held in November, 
1893, are full of hope and promise for the future. They 
are encouraging, and sustain this club in maintaining its 
firm attitude in support of Eepublican principles. They 
should stimulate us to renewed activity in the future, with 
a feeling of assurance that the lost ground will all be re- 
gained, and that we shall then not only be able to defend 
our principles in theory, but our theories will be reen- 
forced and buttressed by the experience of the country. 

The subject of municipal affairs and the bad govern- 
ment of this city has been long under consideration and 
earnest discussion by the coimnittee. During the spring 
and early summer of this year your committee did not 



262 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

arrive at a conclusion so that it could formulate a re- 
port as to the action that should be taken by this club. 

At the ISTovember meeting Mr. Charles Stewart Smith 
precipitated the action of your committee by introducing 
the following resolution : 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Political Kef omi be 
requested to report at the next meeting of the club 
Avhether or not, in the judgment of the committee, it is 
desirable for this club to lead any movement by which an 
attempt shall be made to unite all good men, without 
reference to political aflSliations, in the one issue of good 
government for this city; and, if so, to formulate a plan 
therefor." 

This resolution being adopted, your committee pro- 
ceeded at once to earnest consideration of the subject, and 
held not only regular meetings, but special meetings for 
that purpose. 

In view of the upheavals and changes going on in the 
respective parties, your committee deem it unfortunate 
that they were, at that particular time, called upon to re- 
port to the club for its action. This committee made a 
preliminary report to the December meeting of the club, 
in which report it recommended certain reforms in the 
laws affecting municipal affairs, which reforms were 
deemed vital prerequisites to any movement looking to 
non-partisan city government, and asked that the further 
consideration of the subject be left with the committee, 
with power to report at any regular meeting. 

This leave to report at any regular meeting was changed 
so as to require a report at the next meeting. This being 
the next meeting, a report, in pursuance of that resolution, 
accompanies this report. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 263 

Your committee is thoroughly unpressed with the de- 
sirability of reform in the affairs of the government of 
this city, but are unable to see their way clear at this time 
to enter upon as radical a movement as that indicated by 
the resolution of Mr. Smith. 

Nothing is gained for good government by simply oust- 
ing Tammany from control and installing another govern- 
ment with equally bad tendencies. No one doubts that 
there are honest citizens of sufficient number to take pos- 
session of this city and govern it with integrity. Your 
committee are not yet satisfied that a sufficient number 
of such honest Democrats are so far emancipated from 
fealty to their party as to join with a like number of 
honest Republicans in forming a successful, truly non- 
partisan organization. 

This club should at all times be eager to secure good 
government for this city, and hold itself in an attitude 
ready to cooperate with any such movement which holds 
out promise of a genuine reform in city affairs. 

New York, January 11, 1894. 



EEPORT OF THE 
COMMITTEE OE" POLITICAL REFORM 

The Committee on Political Reform respectfully sub- 
mits the following report : 

The year just closed has been one of unprecedented im- 
portance in the political history of the country. The re- 
sult of the recent elections seems to demonstrate that the 
better sentiment of the country has again turned toward 
the Republican party as the party best qualified to safely 
administer its affairs. 

This change of public sentiment is a source of great 
gratification to this club. It shows that the principles for 
which we have so long contended are meeting with the 
approval of the entire country. If the Republican party 
shall manifest the wisdom of administration that has char- 
acterized most of its career from its earliest days, we 
have good reason to believe that for a long period to 
come it will be entrusted with the administration of the 
government. 

On many former occasions this club has arraigned 
David B. Hill, as the governor of the State, and all of his 
associates in the great conspiracy to defeat the will of the 
people at the ballot-box. It has not hesitated to denounce 
the acts and the actors when the latter were in the full 
flush of power and apparent victory. We have the satis- 
faction now of knowing that, through the courts and 
through the ballot-box, all of the State officers engaged 
in the great crime have received their punishment. It 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 265 

is with peculiar satisfaction that we note the fact that 
David B. Hill, the great conspirator, was defeated by a 
plurality of over 150,000 votes. It would be an anomaly 
in our history if after such a punishment for moral ob- 
liquity in high office he should ever again be a successful 
leader in the politics of the State. 

In municipal affairs the city has entered upon a wide 
departure from precedents heretofore established for its 
government. It has been decreed by the people that a 
non-partisan business administration shall be established. 
There is a great difference of opinion among honest men 
as to the practicability of so administering the affairs of 
this municipality. In view of the disastrous results of 
administering our affairs on a partisan basis, it is at least 
desirable that this new experiment should be honestly 
tried. If the result shall be satisfactory, there is no rea- 
sonable doubt that a solution has been found for much 
of the evil pertaining to city governments. This club 
should sustain with all its moral force the efforts of Mayor 
Strong to administer the city's affairs. 

On the 8th day of February this club referred to your 
committee a resolution calling for a report upon the then 
pending police bills in the legislature. Your committee 
entered upon an examination of the various bills, and in- 
vited a number of the members of the club to meet with 
the committee and discuss them. Your committee re- 
ported that it was not desirable at that time to pass 
mandatory legislation requiring the Board of Police Com- 
missioners to be constituted of persons of different politi- 
cal faith. While it recognized the efficiency of a single- 
headed commission, provided there were adequate means 
to secure the appointment of a man who would administer 
the affairs of the department regardless of political affilia- 



266 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

tions, yet in view of the probability (then amounting 
almost to a certainty) that such an appointment could not 
be secured, it did not recommend a single-headed com- 
mission, but recommended legislation removing from the 
Police Department the Bureau of Elections, and trans- 
ferring the accounts of the Police Department to the De- 
partment of Finance; and recommended that legislation 
should be sought directed in general toward the enfran- 
chisement of the Police Department from all political 
activity and influence, and also that the rules of the civil 
service, so far as is applicable to that department, should 
be strictly and impartially enforced. About the time the 
report was made. Mayor Gilroy appointed a Republican 
police commissioner, thus making the apparent political 
complexion of the commission non-partisan. No bill was 
passed in Albany making such division mandatory. In 
view of the developments before the Lexow Committee, 
and the probability of a report and proposed legislation by 
that committee, no suggestion even would be proper from 
this committee at this time touching this all-important 
subject. 

In April a committee from the citizens of Troy waited 
upon your committee and presented their views touching 
the then recent events at the Troy spring elections, re- 
sulting in the murder of Robert Ross. These gentlemen 
deemed it desirable that some expression of the opinion 
of this club should be made to encourage the people of 
Troy in their efforts to prosecute the murderer. Your 
committee made a report on that subject, which report 
was adopted by the club at its May meeting. 

At the October meeting of this club your committee 
presented a report upon the issues involved in the canvass 
then pending for the elections to be held in November. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 267 

Such report advocated the election of Governor Morton 
and the city reform ticket headed by Mayor Strong. This 
report was unanimously adopted by the club at its October 
meeting. 

At the November meeting of the club a resolution was 
passed as follows : 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Political Reform, 
on behalf of The Union League Club, be, and it hereby is, 
authorized and requested to take the initiative in recom- 
mending to the next Republican legislature such amend- 
ments to the present election and ballot laws as will remedy 
existing defects and effectively prevent the further dis- 
franchisement of voters." 

Your committee respectfully reports that it has given 
the resolution due consideration, and is still holding it 
as an authority for action when the time shall arrive 
for such action. It should be known by the club that 
during the past year a sub-committee of your committee, 
in conjunction with sub-committees of many other leading 
reform organizations of New York , Brooklyn, Staten 
Island, and other points in the State, devoted considerable 
time to the formulation of a ballot-reform law. There 
was not entire unanimity among the delegates as to the 
proper form of this bill in respect to some of its details, 
but there was an entire agreement that great changes are 
needed in the present ballot law. The bill so carefully 
prepared was sent to the last legislature, and there 
amended and changed as deemed advisable by those hav- 
ing this matter in charge. It was passed by both branches 
of the legislature, and vetoed by Governor Flower. The 
bill as vetoed is on the files of the bills of the last legisla- 
ture, and will undoubtedly form the basis of legislation 



268 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 

at the present session of the legislature. When the bill 
shall be introduced, your committee will deem it within 
the scope of the authority conferred upon it by this club 
to give it careful examination and make such suggestions 
as shall seem best. 

There was also introduced at the !N^ovember meeting a 
resolution as follows : 

" Mr. J. Seaver Page moved that the Committee on 
Political Reform take up the matter of Greater New 
York and report on the subject at some future meeting, 
for the information of the club." 

Your committee has also given this resolution due con- 
sideration. On a subject of such vast and far-reaching 
importance, a premature or ill-considered report is not 
desirable. Whatever may be the opinion of members of 
the club as to the desirability of Greater New York, the 
position of the question at the present time seems to be 
that a majority of the people have voted in favor of it. To 
give effect to this vote, however, there must be legislation ; 
and it is understood that an organization or committee of 
gentlemen who have especially espoused this cause has 
the formulation of such legislation in charge. It is the 
opinion of your committee that no action should be taken 
by this club until such proposed legislation should take 
form in Albany. It is apparent that a plan of consolida- 
tion may be formulated that will be objectionable in its 
details; while, on the other hand, a plan may be formu- 
lated that will be unobjectionable. Your committee is 
not possessed of the information, nor has it now the time 
for investigation, necessary to enable it to make any recom- 
mendation at this time. This resolution also is being held 
by the committee for further consideration. 



REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFORM 269 

Your committee has prepared a report upon the subject 
of a bill conferring upon Mayor Strong the power of re- 
moval and apj)ointment to offices of the city of New York, 
so that he may be untrammelled in his efforts to give this 
city a non-partisan business administration, in conformity 
with the plans of the Committee of Seventy and in pur- 
suance of his pledges to the people. Your committee has 
deemed it important that this club should define its posi- 
tion on this matter in no uncertain terms, and a special 
report thereon is presented to this meeting with this 
report. 

N^o other resolution has been referred to this committee 
during the past year; nor has it deemed it advisable for 
the committee, on its own motion, to bring any other sub- 
ject before the club. 

JN'ew York, January 10, 1895. 



ADDEESS TO HON. WILLIAM M. EVAKTS 

On the Occasion of a Reception given by the Union League Club after 
his Election to the United States Senate 

The Union League Club have assembled this evening 
to offer to you, Mr. Evarts, their united congi*atulations. 
You are no stranger to its members, for you were one of 
its founders, and have received at its hands all the honors 
it can bestow. 

You are tendered this reception because you have re- 
cently been elected a member of that august body, the 
Senate of the United States, by the suffrages of the repre- 
sentatives of this Empire State. We desire in a fitting 
manner to congratulate you upon your elevation to that 
body. We congratulate ourselves, and the whole body of 
the citizens of the State, that they have secured your 
eminent abilities for that high office. 

We deem your election as fitting and of good omen 
under the circumstances in which it has taken place. The 
Republican party, after having been in power twenty- 
four years, has been defeated at the polls and is about 
to surrender the executive branch of the general govern- 
ment to the Democratic party. In theory, parties exist 
with us only to enforce policies and principles of govern- 
ment which the people approve. They do not exist to ad- 
vance the fortunes of men or combinations of men by 
placing them in office. This we believe to be the opinion 
of the great mass of the thoughtful, intelligent voters of 



ADDRESS TO HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS 271 

all parties. But, to carry out policies and principles of 
government, men must be chosen to office, and they must 
receive the honors and emoluments which pertain to office. 
Good party principles can produce no practical results for 
the peoj^le until the party which holds them can secure 
the offices in the government, so as to enforce and exem- 
plify its princii)les. In securing the offices a new danger 
arises which must always confront a successful party. It 
is a laudable ambition for any man to desire an office in our 
republican government. It stimulates interest in the af- 
fairs of a government by the people when one or another 
of the people may be called by the suffrages of his fellows 
to take part in that government. There is danger, how- 
ever, that the office-holding class will come to think, after 
a time, that the party exists only to secure places of honor 
and emolument for favored members of the party. When 
this feeling has found lodgment, personal strifes are en- 
gendered, internal factions are liable to be formed, and 
men of high and low degree will have their individual 
following. They lose sight of the purpose of their party 
and of their own political principles in their zeal for their 
favorites. Their likes and dislikes of persons will stimu- 
late or suppress their zeal for principles, and so it may 
come to pass that a great party may be defeated at the 
polls, even though the people do not in their hearts con- 
demn the party which they assist in defeating. The evils 
just spoken of are not peculiar to any party or faction, 
but pertain to all parties which have held power within 
the last half century in this republic. We do not believe 
these evils can ever be entirely removed from any success- 
ful party, taking human nature as it is. Nevertheless, it 
has seemed to us fitting and proper at this time to call at- 
tention to these dangers, and, so far as the influence of this 



272 ADDRESS TO HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS 

club extends, to declare its adherence to the principles 
and policy of the Republican party as best adapted to 
promote the welfare of the people ; and to deprecate that 
feeling which will defeat a candidate because not the 
favorite of a particular faction. That there mil always 
be differences of opinion as to the relative merits of can- 
didates competing for the same office is to be expected and 
desired. Such differences tend to bring out the merits 
and demerits of the candidates, and should lead to the 
nomination of the best man. It is the spirit of faction, 
which refuses to support a rival, that we deprecate. We 
believe the honest desire of the majority of the voters 
to continue the policy and principles of the Republican 
party in power has been often defeated in this State by 
this factional and personal feeling. We believe that the 
most successful political management is that which seeks 
to voice the desires of the people as to candidates, rather 
than that management which, through the power of politi- 
cal organization, seeks to force the people from their 
choice. By this better political management public atten- 
tion will be more steadily directed to a consideration of 
the principles and tendencies of the contending parties, 
and a transfer of power from one party to another will 
mean an approval or disapproval of the policy of one or an- 
other of the great parties. We think that, notwithstanding 
the defeat of the Republican party in the late general 
election, the majority of the people believe in its policy, 
and that they believe that the personal rights of all citi- 
zens and the material prosperity of the country would 
be best conserved in its hands. This was not the case 
when the Democratic party was driven from power in 
1860. Among other things, it had proved itself false in 
its principles and policy on at least three great cardinal 



ADDRESS TO HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS 273 

doctrines which the people deemed material to the per- 
petuity and prosperity of the republic. 

That party comprised a large body of citizens who 
taught such extreme views of State rights that they finally 
developed into the claim of the right of secession. The 
bond of the federal Union was weakened and the republic 
almost destroyed. 

The Democratic party was false to the great principle 
of our government, that all men are free and equal before 
the law. 

The Democratic party was also false to another great 
doctrine, the application of which we believe to be essen- 
tial to the prosperity of the country ; namely, that legisla- 
tion should be so framed as to foster American industries. 

It was because the Democratic party was false to the 
true interests of the people upon these three great leading 
issues that it was driven from power in 1860 as no longer 
to be trusted with the government of the country. 

The Republican party assumed the control of the gov- 
ernment, and has held it for twenty-four years. It has 
during this time, as far as possible, uprooted the pernicious 
doctrines and policies which the Democratic party had 
fostered. It has restored the federal authority to its 
proper place in our scheme of government ; made it strong 
and respected at home and abroad. It has preserved to 
the States their just rights, holding them at the same time 
in their proper relations to the general government. I^ot- 
withstanding this splendid record, the party has been de- 
feated at the polls. If this defeat had been effected be- 
cause, on a full and fair discussion of the policy of the 
Republican party, the people had determined to reject it, 
the defeat would have great significance. But in looking 
back upon the history of the campaign just closed, we 
18 



274 ADDRESS TO HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS 

cannot believe that the result of that campaign was due 
to the sober condemnation by the people of the principles 
of our party. 

We know that the old issues, or some of them, will arise 
again in some form, and will have to be discussed. Ques- 
tions of great importance will present themselves. Among 
them, questions affecting our foreign relations, our ship- 
ping interests, the tariff, and internal revenue, upon all of 
which questions our party will be likely to take issue with 
the Democratic party. We recognize that the Senate of 
the United States is the best forum from which to carry on 
that discussion. We believe that you are well equipped, 
by your great experience and learning and by your ability 
in forensic debate, to present upon that forum the views 
of Kepublicans of the Empire State. You have been 
elected in response to the call of the people. Your most 
ardent supporters in the legislature represented all the 
divisions that have heretofore been supposed to exist in 
the party, so that men who have not heretofore coalesced 
in party management were found to be rivals in their 
hearty support of your candidacy. This seems to point 
to the conclusion that factional spirit is to be laid aside, 
and that the Eepublican party will seek to regain power, 
as it originally acquired it, by its better principles and 
policy and its better capacity to preserve the just rights 
of all the people and promote their prosperity. 

It is because you, sir, have been chosen to be one of the 
foremost standard-bearers of the party in the great con- 
test that is before us that we have tendered you this recep- 
tion. And while we congratulate you upon your election, 
we pledge you our support in the great work in which you 
are to take so conspicuous a part. 

'New York, April, 1885. 



PAPER PREPAEED FOR THE UNION" LEAGUE 
CLUB IN MEMORY OF JOHI^ BRIGHT 

The Union League Club of ISTew York deems the death 
of John Bright an event that calls for some fitting tribute 
from this body. A great and good man has finished his 
earthly career. He has left a record of character and 
influence not often made. His fame does not rest upon 
deeds performed upon the field of battle or in the works of 
science or literature. His great work was in moulding 
and directing the thoughts of men. In this field he was 
a leader of first rank. He was a clear thinker, anxious 
always to be right. Having settled in his own mind what 
was the right of any cause, he espoused that cause with 
all his energies. He was a clear and cogent speaker, and 
by his powerful oratory, personal magnetism, and moral 
force, any cause he advocated seemed to be reinforced by 
a mighty host. He was by birth and education a Quaker; 
all the sentiments of his nature were opposed to war ; but 
he could look behind a war to see if the cause of the con- 
flict justified it. In the British Parliament he did not hesi- 
tate to denounce the wars of his own government. He was 
not blinded as to the justice of a conflict by the sentiment 
that one must sustain his country in all contests. Actu- 
ated by a high sense of duty, he did not hesitate to de- 
nounce the Crimean War as wicked and unnecessary. For 
this he lost his seat in Parliament. For the same reason, 



276 IN MEMORY OF JOHN BRIGHT 

he resigned from Gladstone's ministry when the bom- 
bardment of Alexandria took place. 

He was a close student of American politics. He 
understood perfectly the causes that led to the great 
War of the Rebellion in this country. He saw on the 
one side an attempt to found a government upon the 
basis of slavery; on the other side he saw a great 
nation striving to maintain a government founded upon 
the equal rights of all men. He abhorred the idea 
that in this age a nation could be founded upon 
slavery. Here was a cause for which, according to his 
standard, war was justified. He did not hesitate to give 
the loyal iSTorth his hearty support. It took no little 
courage to do it. The governing and wealthy classes of 
his country were at that time in sympathy with the South. 
All who were then living remember well the feeling of 
disappointment, which soon turned into anger, at the seem- 
ing failure of England to give the loyal North moral 
support and fair treatment. It was at this juncture that 
John Bright stood up for our government against the tone 
of England, and won the hearts of all loyal Americans. 
It is hard, at this day, to realize the value of the service 
he rendered to this country. It checked the tide of public 
sentiment in England, that seemed to be almost unani- 
mously against our government. It was soon found that 
he spoke the sentiment and sympathies of the middle and 
laboring classes of his country. Erom that time we have 
cherished his name and memory as worthy of lasting 
gratitude. For more than twenty years his portrait has 
hung in a conspicuous place on our walls. We invited 
him to be our guest, but he was unwilling to make the 
journey to this country. We have felt that no recognition 
we could give of his services was too much for him ; and 



IN MEMORY OF JOHN BRIGHT 277 

now that he is dead we can only fervently and reverently 
resolve that we shall ever hold his memory in grateful 
remembrance. 

New York, April, 1889. 



NATIVE COPPEK IN MICHIGAN 

Few people have any knowledge of the native copper 
of Michigan — what it is, where it is obtained, or how it is 
procured and prepared for market; nor is the magnitude of 
the industry understood. Last year there were produced 
105,586,000 pounds of refined copper, which at 17 cents 
per pound (about the price of copper at this writing) 
would amount to the sum of $18,045,620. It is a rapidly 
growing industry, and the new openings and additional 
machinery, now fast getting ready for operation, point to 
an increased production of at least 20 per cent, in pounds 
of copper for next year. 

About $250,000,000 in value have been taken from 
these famous mines, and yet no one suggests a probable 
limit to the supply, or dares predict the extent of the 
possible future development of this great industry. Na- 
tive copper is so called because each particular piece of 
copper as it is mined, whether it be many tons in weight 
or a fine particle of dust, is pure copper of the same kind 
and quality as the ingot copper of the world's markets. 
It is not alloyed with any other mineral, except it carries 
a trace of silver, and pure silver in small quantities is 
often found imbedded in it. 

It was this purity of the metal that made these mines 
an object of interest to an ancient people who discovered 
and worked them extensively in some prehistoric age. 

Those who look at a map of Lake Superior will see a 
peninsula called Keweenaw Point that juts out into the 



NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 379 

lake from the southerly shore, in a northeasterly direc- 
tion. It is a wee, small bit of land in this world to con- 
tain so much wealth and to possess so much romantic in- 
terest. These famous mines are situated along a line 
about in the middle of this peninsula, running from south- 
west to northeast, and copper has been found at various 
points along this line for about fifty miles. Ancient works 
have been found at numerous points for about thirty miles. 

There is a deep mystery about these old works that it is 
impossible to fathom. In the opinion of many they were 
worked by a race of men that preceded the Indian races 
found here when Columbus discovered this continent; but 
others think that they were worked by the ancestors of the 
Indian races here when white men first penetrated this 
then far-distant country. This question can never be con- 
clusively settled. This much is certain, that, whoever 
worked these mines in ancient days, all knowledge of the 
existence of the mines was gone from the Indians when 
white men rediscovered them. 

These ancient miners were a diligent and persistent 
people. They seemed to know nothing of smelting cop- 
per, for there are no traces of molten copper. They were 
after pieces of suitable size to work by cold hammering 
into useful articles and ornaments. They understood the 
use of fire in softening the rocks to enable them to break 
away the rock from the masses of copper. They knew 
nothing of drilling or blasting, but used the stone hammer 
freely. More than ten cart-loads of stone hammers were 
found in the vicinity of the Minnesota mine. One of the 
larger class weighed thirty-nine and one-half pounds, while 
smaller specimens weighed five or six pounds each. 

These stone hammers have a crease around them, ob- 
viouslv for a withe handle. Such handles are made of 



280 NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 

tough saplings or small trees that will bend around the 
stone, and, when firmly bound in their place by strips of 
strong bark, make a hammer about as effective as a mod- 
ern blacksmith's sledge-hammer. Ashes and wood coals 
have been found on the rocks at the bottom of the work- 
ing, showing the use of fire to prepare the way for the 
effective use of the stone hammer. These mines must 
have been worked for centuries, judging by the extent of 
the works. 

In one place the excavation was about fifty feet deep, 
and at the bottom were found tunbers forming a scaffold- 
ing, and a large sheet of copper was discovered there. In 
another place in one of the old pits was found a mass of 
copper that weighed forty-six tons. At another point the 
excavation was twenty-six feet deep. In another opening, 
at the depth of eighteen feet, a mass of copper weighing 
over six tons was found raised about five feet from its na- 
tive bed by the ancients and secured there on oaken props. 
Every projecting point had been taken off by these people, 
so that the exposed surface was smooth. 

Wherever the ancients found copper from a few pounds 
weight to a few hundred pounds in weight they were ob- 
viously able to utilize them, but the large masses were too 
hea\y for them to handle. Their habit was to throw the 
broken stone behind them as they progressed with their 
works. Many of their workings are ten feet or less in 
depth. The copper obtained by these people was wrought 
cold into axes, chisels, knives, spear heads, arrow heads, 
bracelets, buttons, beads, etc. It has been observed that 
very few of these articles are found near the mines. 

There is a piece of low arable land a few miles from 
the mines, near the mouth of a small stream that runs into 
Keweenaw Bay, which the old miners probably used as 



NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 281 

their camping ground, for here has been the principal find 
of ancient tools on Keeweenaw Point. These copper tools 
have been frequently found in the old earthworks in Wis- 
consin, Ohio, and Canada, and the writer thinks that he 
has read of their being found farther south, in the Missis- 
sippi Valley. There are no human remains found near 
the workings, nor evidences of human habitations. 

The extreme severity of the winters and the absence 
of any evidence of permanent occupation have led many to 
suppose that the ancient miners migrated from some 
warmer climate in the spring and returned in the autumn, 
perhaps bearing their dead away with them. Whoever 
they were, whatever their habits were, many centuries 
have passed since they last worked these mines. Their 
trenches and openings have become filled up, or nearly so. 
Monstrous trees have grown over their works and fallen to 
decay ; other generations of large trees have grown and 
perhaps fallen and decayed; how many, no one can tell. 
All that is known is that when the mines were rediscov- 
ered decayed trunks of large trees were lying over the 
works, with a heavy growth of live timber then standing 
on the ground. Over one of these works in the Minnesota 
mine Mr. Knapp reports that a hemlock tree which he 
felled showed 395 annular rings. 

The desire to fix a time when these old works were 
closed is intense, but cannot be gratified. It would be 
curious to compare the civilization of Europe with that of 
these people at the same time, if we could fix the date. 
What was Europe doing when these stalwart men of the 
Northwest were swinging those tons of stone hammers in a 
no mean effort to accomplish a feat of mining that, a few 
years ago, would have been creditable to our boasted 
civilization? 



282 NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 

Had Columbus pointed the prow of his ship to these 
shores at the very time these men were industriously- 
working these mines, or had the forest trees then grown 
over them? Dates would be interesting, but they cannot 
be established. Of one thing we are certain, a great 
modern industry has been, or, more properly speaking, is 
now being, built upon this ancient industry. 

The Jesuits who visited this country about two hundred 
years ago learned from the Indians that there was copper 
in the country. Claud Allouez, who \'isited Lake Superior 
in 16C6, states that pieces of copper weighing from ten 
to twenty pounds were frequently found by the savages. 
Pieces of copper that have been carried by the convulsions 
of nature from their original bed are found many miles 
from the copper veins. In 1864 a mass of copper weigh- 
ing about eighteen tons was found loose on the drift cover- 
ing the rock near Portage Lake. 

A copper rock now on the government grounds in 
Washington has a strange history. It was brought from 
the banks of the Ontanagon River. It is supposed to have 
been removed by the ancients in some way to the banks of 
the river, and in an attempt to raft it over it got away 
from them and sank to the bottom. When the water was 
low it projected above the surface, and was an object of 
religious veneration. It is said to have been known for 
over 200 years. The Jesuits heard of it from the Indian 
priests, who, however, refused to conduct the missionaries 
to the spot where it lay, on account of a superstitious belief 
that when the white men had seen it the Indians would 
be destroyed — a belief not without reason. 

In 1820 General Cass sent a party of men to fetch the 
rock away, but owing to its great weight they did not 
succeed. Another attempt was made to remove it in 1827, 



NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 283 

but as the river was high and it was pretty much covered 
with water this attempt failed. In 1842 another attempt 
was more successfuh It was removed to the mouth of the 
river. A Mr. Eldred claimed to own it. It was afterward 
claimed by a government agent, and finally removed to 
Washington. By act of Congress Mr. Eldred was paid 
$5,655 for it. 

The first attempt at mining mthin historical times was 
in 1771, but the location was not skilfully chosen, and it 
was a failure. It was not until the report of Dr. Douglass 
Houghton, State geologist, in 1841, that there was any 
public knowledge of native copper in place on Keweenaw 
Point. This report awakened great interest in this coun- 
try, and explorations and developments have gone on with 
generally increasing interest to this date. A history of 
the early struggles and trials of those who took part in 
the development of this country would be exceedingly 
interesting. It is a pity the task is not undertaken by 
some competent person before death has removed the last 
of the actors who could tell the tale. 

It was not until 1844, after the Indian titles were ex- 
tinguished, that mining began in earnest by white men. 
Hundreds of companies were unwisely organized. Specu- 
lation was rife. Works were begun under great difficulties, 
and knowledge of mining was limited. Capital was also 
limited. The usual result followed — a grand collapse — 
in 1847. Disappointment and failure were general, with 
some notable exceptions. The methods of mining then 
employed were primitive. The country is full of aban- 
doned works, and many of them are now being reopened 
with fresh capital. 

In the early days the mining was, in some of its meth- 
ods, not unlike those of the ancient miners, but some 



284 NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 

modern ideas were introduced. Drilling, blasting, and 
stamping in a crude way were employed. In all cases, 
except where large masses of copper were found, the ore 
was roasted in burrows. These were formed by layers of 
wood and layers of ore. In the roasting process care was 
taken not to have the fire hot enough to melt the copper. 
The large pieces of copper were sent to the smelting 
works, the smaller pieces of roasted ore were stamped and 
washed, and the resulting copper put in barrels and sent 
to the smelter. This was called " barrel work." 

The masses of copper found in the earlier days have not 
been equalled in size in later years. In fact, large masses 
of copper are not as profitable to find, owing to the diffi- 
culty and expense of getting them out and cutting them 
up. Among the numerous masses of copper, the most 
notable was found in the Minnesota mine in 1857. It was 
difficult to dislodge it from its native bed. Charges of 
powder, first of 125 pounds, gradually increased to 550 
pounds, failed to dislodge it. Finally, a charge of 750 
pounds, securely tamped under it, was fired, with the re- 
sult of lifting from its bed, without fracture, a mass of 
copper forty-six feet long, eighteen feet in breadth, and 
nine feet thick, the latter two measurements being taken 
at the greatest distance, the whole mass weighing about 
500 tons. In cutting it up fifteen tons of chips of copper 
were made. 

In the early days of mining there was great difficulty 
experienced from the isolation of the country and want of 
transportation facilities. There were no railroads or tele- 
graphs, and the only means of transportation was by 
water. All supplies for men and animals had to be 
brought up before navigation closed. The winters were 
long and severe. When once the cold weather began 



NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 285 

the people were as isolated from the rest of the world as 
the Laplanders. For from six to eight months they had 
little or no communication from " below." An occasional 
mail would be brought in by hardy adventurers on snow- 
shoes, with dog trains. 

One of the pioneers related to me that the news of the 
first President Harrison's election in November, 1840, and 
of his death the following April, came in the same mail, 
about two months after his death. With all their trials 
and deprivations, those who wintered here had many social 
enjoyments and much real pleasure. There was much 
good society among those in charge of the works, and 
innumerable stories are told of the good times they had 
in the old days of forty years ago. In those days men 
walked ten miles on snowshoes to make New Year's 
calls. A short neighborly call would usually last at least 
a week. 

All this is changed now. Railroads, telegraphs, tele- 
phones, and electric lights, and a greatly developed indus- 
try have inaugurated a new era. The theatre of principal 
mining interest has changed. The greatest mine for many 
years has been the Calumet and Hecla. The development 
of this mine began about 1867. Its progress has been 
wonderful, and to-day it ranks as one of the greatest cop- 
per mines in the world. Its works are situated on what is 
locally known as the Calumet and Hecla Conglomerate. 

This is a vein at its mine of from six to twenty-eight 
feet in thickness, generally carrying copper interspersed 
through the rock, the larger pieces, with rare exceptions, 
usually weighing only a few ounces, and from that of all 
sizes down to dust as fine as gold dust. No very large 
masses of copper have been found, none worthy of notice 
compared with those before referred to. It is the uni- 



386 NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 

versality of the small pieces of copper through such a 
vast quantity of rock that makes the marvellous wealth of 
this mine, although in their explorations the workmen 
have found long stretches of rock too lean to be worth 
milling. 

In some of their shafts paying rock has been found 
near the surface. In their early days they were fortu- 
nate in opening such shafts in very rich rock near the sur- 
face, which gave the company its financial strength, en- 
abling it to pay good dividends and push explorations. 
The shafts extend for about two miles along the vein, and 
are fourteen in number. Many of the shafts have been 
sunk to a great depth before finding paying rock. One 
of the latest explorations descended 2,300 feet before pay- 
ing rock was found. All of the shafts have found paying 
rock when pushed deep enough, and all are richer at their 
greatest depth than at the surface. 

A study of these results, as well as of the results at other 
mines, has led to the conclusion that the most profitable 
mining is to be found at great depths. The method of 
mining by this company up to this writing has been to 
sink their shafts down on the slope of the vein. Captain 
Daniell, one of the ablest miners of that country, who 
has been for twelve years in charge of the Osceola mine, 
reasoning out the probable course and character of this 
wonderful vein, backed by abundant capital, inaugurated 
a bold and original idea of mining. Selecting a location 
beyond the lands of the Calumet and ITecla and above the 
vein, he calculated that a perpendicular shaft should strike 
the vein at a depth of 2,300 feet. It was a bold enterprise 
to go out into the open country and lay out the work upon 
land that showed no indications of copper at the surface, 
and enter upon a labor of years to find a vein of copper 



NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 287 

the continuity of which was unknowm except by logical 
reasoning from the surface openings of the Calumet and 
Hecla mine. 

What freaks of nature in the bowels of the earth might 
defeat his logic no man could tell. Patiently, year after 
year, the work went on, and at the end of three years and 
four months the expected vein was found, within thirty 
feet of the expected depth. The result was the opening 
oi the famous Tamarack mine, which, with other mines 
now opening by the same men, bids fair to rival the Calu- 
met and Hecla. The Tamarack mine has been in success- 
ful operation for four years. 

Encouraged by this success, a second shaft has been 
sunk on the same location, which has just come into suc- 
cessful operation (August, 1890). The vein where pierced 
by these two shafts is of the same general character as 
that in the Calumet and Hecla. On another location the 
same company has sunk two shafts to a depth of 2,300 
feet, but do not expect to reach the copper until ISTovember 
next, at a depth of about 2,500 feet. A third mine of two 
shafts has been commenced on still another location and 
has attained a depth of only 500 feet, but is expected to 
be sunk about 3,800 feet before reaching copper. These 
are bold departures from the traditional method of min- 
ing in this country, which heretofore had been to sink 
on the slope of the vein. 

Within about two years the Calmnet and Hecla com- 
menced an enormous vertical shaft, intending to cut the 
vein on their land at a point below their present work- 
ings, at a depth of about 3,700 feet. It will take nearly 
two years before this shaft can reach the vein. It will 
be interesting to note the result of all these unfinished 
works. If the calculations of their projectors are not at 



288 NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 

fault, they will put into the shade all past achievements in 
copper mining in this country. 

Modern methods of mining and milling have made great 
advances over old methods. The rock is no longer roasted. 
That method was abandoned years ago. Black powder 
has been superseded by high explosives that throw down 
much larger masses of rock. The hand drill has given 
place to drills driven by compressed air. All the rock is 
stamped in mills of great power. In 1860 a report was 
made of a mill that stamped thirty-three tons per head 
per day. Now a single head will stamp 260 tons per day. 

The method of procedure is to raise the rock to the sur- 
face in such lumps as it is left in by the blast in the mine. 
Here the large pieces are put through stone crushers that 
break it into lumps not larger than a man's fist. It is then 
dumped into cars and taken about four miles to the border 
of a small lake, where it is stamped and washed, a process 
called milling. After the earthy matter is worked out 
as far as practicable, it is sent to the smelter, where it is 
cast into the various forms of copper required in the mar- 
kets of the world. 

It is difficult in a few words to give an idea of the mag- 
nitude of these operations. The details would be tire- 
some. A few facts will serve in some measure as indices 
to lead the mind to comprehend the subject. The people 
who live almost together upon the group of mines, of 
which the Calumet and Hecla is the principal one, num- 
ber about 12,000, all of whom are either directly or in- 
directly supported by the mines. About half as many 
more are supported around the mills and smelting works. 

All the mines have to pump water up to their mills to 
wash the earthy matter from the copper. The amount of 
water pumped daily by the Calumet and Hecla to its mill 



NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 289 

is about 34,000,000 gallons, a good supply for a city. But 
more than this, this comi3any has nearly completed a pump 
that will throw about 50,000^000 gallons a day, or an 
amount in excess of half the water supply of the great city 
of Isew York prior to July, 1890. The dividends this com- 
pany has made to its stockholders exceed $35,000,000. 
It is only by such comparisons that the mind of the gen- 
eral reader is brought to a comprehension of these great 
works. 

The amount of sand washed into the Portage Lake be- 
came so great that it threatened to stop navigation, and 
the United States government has had to interfere and 
prevent further use of the lake. Many acres of made 
land are now in the lake from these washings. At present 
most of the mills are on Torch Lake, but the time will 
come when Lake Superior will have to be the dumping 
ground. 

The Calumet and Hecla sends daily to the smelting 
works about 135 tons of mineral, as the copper is called 
after stamping and washing, which when smelted will 
produce about ninety-five tons of pure copper daily. The 
greatest depth of the Calumet and Hecla is over 3,000 
feet, and the greatest depth of the Tamarack is about 
2,850 feet. These two mines, the greatest producers, are 
selected by way of illustration. Proper limits forbid 
further details in this paper, although the operations of 
the Quincy, the Atlantic, the Osceola, and others would be 
interesting. 

The native copper of these mines is the only consider- 
able body of such copper yet found in the world. The 
character of the mines improves the greater the depths 
to which they are worked. In this respect this district is 

diflFerent from many others. Tlie Cornwall mines of Eng- 
19 



290 NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 

land gradually changed to tin mines as they went down. 
In Montana the mines are of decreasing value when 
worked below the water level of the country. The Chilian 
mines, that once dictated the price of copper for the 
world, can no longer be worked with much profit, and are 
not a serious factor in the market. The native copper of 
Michigan has more tensile strength and greater conduc- 
tivity for electrical purposes than any other. It commands 
the highest price in the market, for its better adaptability 
for many kinds of manufacturing purposes. 

In the deep mining of this country no particular change 
is noticed in the temperature of the mines as they go down. 
Water is not encountered in troublesome quantities. The 
veins seem to be almost hermetically sealed. These are all 
favorable conditions for mining. A striking feature of 
these improvements is the ponderous machinery, engines, 
pumps, stamps, and fly-wheels, as fine as any in the world, 
housed in large brick and stone buildings with iron roofs. 
All this in a place where the " forest primeval " stood in 
its solemn stillness thirty years ago. The trees were 
of phenomenal size, and the sunshine hardly penetrated 
their close and tangled growth. Even now the stumps 
have to be grubbed out to make way for advancing im- 
provements. 

Such are the Lake Superior copper mines as they ap- 
peared to me in my leisure hours of outing in 1890. Great 
as have been their strides in the past, it seems to me that 
the men in charge are just beginning to understand the 
business and the country. Wonderful as the improvements 
have been, others are to follow. Advanced thinkers are 
looking forward to the time when electricity will come to 
their aid to drive their drills and perhaps light these sub- 
terranean caverns. The time will also come when a limit 



NATIVE COPPER IN MICHIGAN 291 

will be reached for hoisting by steam power from the 
surface. 

When I suggested this difficulty to Captain Daniell his 
quick response was : " Electricity can be used to bring the 
ore within reach of a surface hoist." At the suggestion 
of expense he said : " That is not a very material factor." 
His answer suggested large thoughts of future possibili- 
ties. It is refreshing to get away from the rut of metro- 
politan life and be with men who are doing the really big 
things in this world — stalwart thinkers who form great 
plans and patiently carry them out. Whenever a just 
estimate of the really great men of the land is made up, 
a successful mining captain or superintendent will hold 
no mean rank. 

New York, August, 1890. 



ARGUMENT BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE IN 
FAVOR OF AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 

At first blush the building of an East River railroad 
bridge by the Long Island Railroad Company would seem 
to be a bold enterprise, hardly justified by the situation. 
An examination, however, shows that such is not the fact. 
The day is passed when service by ferry, through fogs 
and ice, is to be endured longer by the travelling public, 
with the changes and annoyances attendant upon reach- 
ing the river front, if there is a practicable way of avoid- 
ing such annoyances. The two questions are : 

First, the physical difficulties ; and. 

Secondly, the financial question of its being a safe en- 
terprise for investors. 

The plan of the proposed bridge and railroad, in a few 
words, is to start on Park Avenue at some suitable point 
between Thirty-fourth Street and Forty-second Street, with 
a large passenger depot so constructed that the trains run 
into the second story; thence running by a viaduct or ele- 
vated road to the river front, spanning the river, with two 
piers in the middle, to the east side, and thence on a via- 
duct or elevated road to Laurel Hill, Long Island. 

That such a mode of transportation would be of the 
greatest public convenience is not open to debate. The 
effect would be to enable all citizens of New York to pro- 
ceed with the greatest comfort and the greatest rapidity 
to the most magnificent stretch of beach and healthy land 
that lies approximate to any city in the world. 



I 



ARGUMENT FOR AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 293 

In spanning the river a pier will be erected on the New 
York side, on the bulkhead line. The next pier will be 
built on what is known as Man-of-War Rock, a dangerous 
reef in the middle of the East Eiver that is uncovered at 
very low tide. This would leave the channel between New 
York and Man-of-War Rock of the same width that it is 
at this time, a distance of 1,000 feet. A second pier would 
be placed in the water east of this rock, leaving a space 
of 1,100 feet for the channel between that pier and the 
Long Island side. The average channel on each side of 
Blackwell's Island is not to exceed 800 feet, and in many 
instances it is 100 feet less than that, while the channel 
through Hell Gate that is available is in many instances 
only about 400 or 500 feet, so that there would be no 
obstructions to navigation through such structure. 

Every great enterprise that has been undertaken for 
the purpose of affording facilities for travel has in a short 
time been taxed beyond its capacity and beyond the most 
sangiiine expectations of its projectors. No better illus- 
tration of this can be found than in the statistics of the 
passengers carried and the earnings of the Brooklyn 
Bridge, as shown by the following table : 

Passengers carried 

over Bridge. Earnings. 

1883 (6 months) 1,082,500 $54,115 00 

1884 8,528,840 426,486 00 

1885 17,023,237 537,435 09 

1886 24,029,267 661,361 51 

1887 27,940,313 768,768 69 

1888 30,331,283 833,760 34 

1889 33,954,773 931,973 39 

1890 37,676,411 1,032,014 23 

Total 180,566,624 $5,245,914 25 



294 ARGUMENT FOR AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 

Another striking illustration of. the rapidity with which 
the public avails itself of any increased facilities for travel 
is shown by the growth of the passenger traffic on the ele- 
vated railroads. The following table illustrates such 
growth : 

For the year ending September 30, 1884 96,702,620 

1885 103,354,729 

1886 115,109,591 

1887 158,903,232 

1888 171,529,789 

1889 179,497,433 

1890 188,203,877 



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During the year 1890 there were carried across the 
various ferries on the East Kiver 88,663,509 passengers, 
and across the N^orth Eiver for the same period, 84,663,- 
400 passengers, making a grand total of 173,326,909 
passengers carried on the several ferries from this city. 

Notwithstanding the enormous traffic that has been car- 
ried on the elevated railroads, there has been a large in- 
crease in the travel upon the horse-car lines of the city 
of ISTew York, as shown by the following table : 

Number of passengers carried on horse-car lines in 
New York City. 

1884 169,147,493 

1885 190,836,475 

1886 209,627,823 

1887 203,182,092 

1888 199,357,525 

1889 208,504,703 

No thoughtful person hesitates to believe that the 
population of New York in the near future will be as 



ARGUMENT FOR AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 295 

large as, or will be larger than, the present population of 
London. London is situated upon a comparatively small 
island, l^ew York has an open territory behind it to the 
Pacific Coast of 3,000 miles in extent, that is growing 
and developing with accelerated speed, to sustain and 
promote the grow^th of this city. 

Long before the bridge can be constructed there will 
be a demand for its use much greater than exists at this 
day. Immediately upon its opening, this demand will be 
greatly stimulated. 

The growth and prosperity of London depend upon 
the fact that bold engineering enterprises have pointed 
out a way to bring railway trains to the heart of the city 
without interfering ^\dth the comfort of the people. It 
Avould be impossible for London to be London without 
these great works. 

As a matter of State pride it is desirable that the prop- 
erty and the development should be upon the soil of the 
State of New York rather than upon that of a neighbor- 
ing State. 

No objection can now be raised to the proposed bridge 
spanning the East River at an elevation of 135 feet above 
the water at mean high tide. One bridge having been 
built and others having been authorized, the time is fully 
ripe for affording every reasonable facility that can be 
given between New York and Long Island. No one doubts 
the necessity and desirability of leaving the navigation of 
the North River unobstructed, but this bridge adds nothing 
in the way of obstruction to the river. While river navi- 
gation has in the popular mind and in the minds of those 
interested in river navigation been held to be something 
almost sacred, nevertheless modern progress and the con- 
ditions of modern civilization require that while the rights 



396 ARGUMENT FOR AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 

of navigation should be carefully respected and preserved, 
the greater mode of transportation by railroads, which 
is also a matter of the largest public interest, shall also 
be facilitated to the largest possible extent. The two can 
and should be made to harmonize. There are various 
great waterways in this country that have opposed the 
construction of railroad bridges, but the requirements of 
railroad transportation have overcome those objections, 
and bridges have been constructed, and it has been found 
to be possible to harmonize whatever conflicting interest 
there may have been between those two great methods of 
transportation, so as not to injure the waterways nor to 
impede the railway — notably the numerous bridges across 
the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and the bridges across the 
Hudson Eiver, particularly the Poughkeepsie Bridge, 
where piers are sunk in the middle of the river. As a 
matter of fact, the navigation of the Hudson River goes 
on just as before, without difficulty, with the Poughkeep- 
sie Bridge built across the river. 

In the construction of the East River Bridge it is per- 
fectly understood that it must be authorized by the au- 
thorities of the United States; and while this legislature 
can take one step, and a necessary step, in that direction, 
there must be a concurrence of the authorities of the 
general government and also of the authorities of the two 
cities through which the structure is to be built. 

Bold and expensive as the enterprise is, it was not 
deemed advisable nor desirable to ask any concessions by 
way of exemption from taxation to promote the enterprise. 
All the property that will be acquired and all the struc- 
tures built will remain subject to taxation precisely the 
same as other like property is taxed within the State. The 
only favor asked is that capital may be permitted to build 



ARGUMENT FOR AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 297 

the structure, and that it may not be hampered or em- 
barrassed so as to prevent its being constructed, and that 
it may have the same chance that other enterprises have 
that are for the benefit of the public and the benefit of 
the investors. 

Bold as the enterprise is, it is sound as a matter of pub- 
lic policy and sound as a financial venture, if it is per- 
mitted to go on without unnatural and unjust limitation. 

This enterprise is of the greatest importance to the de- 
velopment and growth of the city of Brooklyn. As a con- 
sequence of building the bridge, Brooklyn will be put in 
immediate and close connection by rail with the gTeat lines 
of railroad that run east, north, and west from the Grand 
Central depot. Whether Brooklyn shall ultunately become 
a part of the Greater New York of the future, the mate- 
rial advantages will accrue just the same to that locality 
if it shall continue a separate municipality instead of form- 
ing a part of New York. 

The growth of travel on the Long Island Railroad is an 
illustration of how improved facilities have been accepted 
and used by the public and have become necessities for 
their accommodation and comfort. In 1876 the total re- 
ceipts of all the roads now constituting the system com- 
bined in the Long Island Railroad, with slight increase 
of mileage, was only about $1,500,000. As increased 
facilities have been given to the island the business has 
increased with steady progress, until the last fiscal year 
showed an income of over $4,000,000. The road has been 
handicapped in its growth and development by the annoy- 
ances and difficulties of ferry transportation. While the 
natural growth will undoubtedly go on in the future as 
it has in the past, with such increased facilities as must 
of necessity be provided for it, it will be apparent to any 



298 ARGUMENT FOR AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 

one who will reflect that if the annoyances of approaches 
to the ferries and of passing through Long Island City 
along ITewtown Creek can all be removed, the measure 
of past increase will be no guide to the future increase. 

The number of passengers, as returned to the Railroad 
Commissioners, carried over the Long Island Railroad 
each year, is shown by the following table : 

Number of passen- 
gers carried. 

Year ending September 30, 1881 6,512,270 

1882 8,878,453 

1883 9,024,370 

1884 9,326,747 

1885 10,057,713 

1886 10,458,896 

1887 11,900,022 

1888 12,234,083 

1889 12,439,759 

1890 13,139,691 

1891 14,269,180 

This enterprise comes to the legislature, not with the 
desire to secure a franchise for the purpose of sale, or to 
be in the way of any other enterprise, but it comes here 
backed by the capital and resources of the Long Island 
Railroad. It does not seek to interfere with any other 
bridge enterprise. The character of the work it proposes 
to do is the transportation of passengers upon railroads. 
It does not propose to carry foot passengers or teams, but 
leaves that field to any capitalist who may seek to build 
a bridge for that character of service. It would be per- 
fectly consistent, in granting this franchise for the pur- 
poses that it is desired for the Long Island Railroad, to 





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ARGUMENT FOR AN EAST RIVER BRIDGE 299 

also charter another bridge to perform the work now per- 
formed bv the Brooklyn Bridge. The two would be in 
perfect harmony. In the near future there mil be a large 
city in the territory between the East Kiver and Flushing 
Bay that will require a bridge for the local business, and 
the granting of the franchise for such a bridge would not 
in the slightest degree interfere with this enterprise, nor 
would it meet with any opposition from the promoters of 
this bridge. 

New York, 1892. 



THE EEAL VALUE OF COIN 

It is Fixed iy the Value of the Bullion in it, not hy Laws 

To the Editor of the Tribune : 

Sir — It cannot be too often pressed upon the attention 
of the people that in the great markets of the world gold 
and silver, whether coined or uncoined, pass only at their 
bullion value. The stamps and marks upon each par- 
ticular piece pass for nothing, no matter in what mint it 
is coined. If $1,000,000 or £1,000,000 are paid in any 
great centre of trade — say London or Paris — the money 
is never counted, but weighed, and taken at a fixed price 
per pound. A bar of gold of standard weight and fineness 
is just as valuable as a like weight of coins from the mint. 
The gold coins of the English mint are treated precisely 
the same in the Bank of England as are the coins of the 
United States, France, or any other country. Weight 
and fineness are the supreme tests. Marks of value placed 
on the coins by the different countries are of no moment. 
Silver is treated in the same way. Coined silver has no 
value over bar silver in the channels of trade in the 
world. A considerable amount of silver in every country 
has a fictitious value because it is the only metal that it is 
practicable to coin into small enough pieces for the small 
every-day transactions of the people of each country. 
Some gold nations carry more silver and some less in this 
way, in proportion to population. The silver advocates 
constantly ignore the bullion value of coined silver dollars, 



THE REAL VALUE OF COIN 801 

and talk about them as if by some potent mysterious power 
the government could, by melting and forming the bullion 
into coin vnth marks on it, interject some new value into 
the silver. This is a great and mysterious feat for a gov- 
ernment to perform. 

Somebody will certainly try to find out the ultimate 
factor in this great event. To solve the problem we would 
suggest that the owner of a new ten-dollar gold piece and 
of ten new silver dollars put the gold piece in a crucible 
and melt it down; then put the ten silver dollars in an- 
other crucible and melt them down, and look for the re- 
sult. He will find that his gold ^vill still be worth ten 
dollars in the markets of the world, but his silver will be 
worth only five dollars. Curious result! An interesting 
thing has happened from a scientific point of view, al- 
though rather startling from a financial point of view. 
No value gone out of one metal by melting it, and five 
dollars gone out of the other by the same process. The 
curious inquirer will ask, " What is the virtue that has 
gone out of one metal and not out of the other by melting 
it doTiTi ? " He will be likely to conclude that the lost 
five dollars in the silver is a pretty elusive substance, 
rather " gassy " for banking purposes or to use in dealings 
in the markets of the world. 

Our experimenter is out five dollars now by his opera- 
tions. . We can suppose that he now applies to Mr. Bryan 
to know what he shall do. Mr. Bryan would probably 
say : " That is easy to remedy when we get free coinage. 
Take your gold and silver back to the mint and have it 
recoined; bullion value has nothing to do with the value 
of money." Upon reminting the gold and silver a won- 
derful result again appears. The gold comes out just ten 
dollars, and the silver comes out apparently just ten dol- 



302 THE REAL VALUE OF COIN 

lars. It is rather puzzling to find out liow it has happened 
that the gold has passed through the fire twice without 
change of value, while the silver was reduced to its 
bullion value of five dollars by fire and raised again to 
ten dollars by coining it. There can be but one solution 
to this riddle. It is in the inherent power of the Congress 
of the United States. They can pass an act and force into 
a piece of silver worth fifty cents in gold a value equal to 
100 cents in gold. It does not look reasonable, but Mr. 
Bryan said he " believed " that would be the result. Is 
not that enough for any reasonable man ? 

Yes, Congress must have the power to take a com- 
modity that has only a commercial value by weight in 
the markets of the world, and by its own fiat double its 
value. At least such seems to be the only reasonable 
conclusion from the silver advocates' premises. 

But here comes another question: Why all this bother 
about sixteen to one? If Congress is omnipotent to fix 
value regardless of bullion value, why not make it eight 
to one ? It seems just as ■ asy to stamp the quantity of 
silver in a half dollar witl he stamp of one dollar and 
so make it a dollar. The ne inherent power that can 
go half way can surely tf he next step and go all the 
way. By this step we c double our silver money at 

one bound. 

Of course the idea of Old World that all jnoney, 

gold and silver, should 1: iglied, and its bullion value 

found out, would bother or a time in the markets of 

the world, where the sur. cotton and wheat are to be 
sold. This little matter ^s not seem to trouble the 
silver advocates. 

All this trouble about a d standard of value in coin, 
according to the silver advocates, seems to have its root 



THE REAL VALUE OF COIN 303 

in the idea that farm products are too low, chiefly the 
great staples of cotton and wheat. In their arguments 
they ignore the interests of the mine owners. Why not 
invoke the inherent power of Congress to increase values 
in another way, by fixing a new standard of measure? 
]\rake half a bushel of wheat a bushel, a half pound of 
cotton a pound ! This would apparently double the prod- 
ucts of those staples. The only trouble the producers 
would meet when they appeared in the foreign markets 
with their surplus products would be that the foreign 
purchasers would insist upon applying the same rule they 
do to gold and silver, and weigh the stuff. That little 
difficulty ought not to bafile the silver philosophers. 

The mistake our free-silver advocates make is in mis- 
taking the function of a govermnent in the act of coining 
metal. It is simply the act of an honest and trusted agent 
to weigh and mark each piece of coin and certify to its 
weight and fineness. After that its value is determined 
in the marts of trade. It is true that Congress can decide 
what shall be legal tender, a<d in law the coins they de- 
clare shall be legal tender vlf i^ be legal tender. There is 
a wide difference between vaF> .3 for legal tender and value 
in trade. One is compulsor;^ ' 'law for a special purpose, 
the other value is deteniiim ''the consensus of opinion 
of mankind in trade. It is I --^ latter standard that real 
value is fixed. 

To illustrate : Suppose we^'' ily go upon a silver basis. 
The law would still stand th) •' '^-oth metals could be legal 
tender, and for that purpose f^qual. But if gold should 
go to a premium of say 10(^''-' r cent., how long would it 
take for everybody to knov nhat gold was worth more 
than silver, in spite of the^J^^t of Congress? Turn the 
question as you will, actual "value cannot be created by 



304 THE REAL VALUE OF COIN 

act of Congress. There is a law above and beyond that 
body that fixes actual value. Happy is the country all of 
whose coins conform to this supreme standard ! 

Compulsory free coinage means the adoption of silver 
as the unit of measure of all values. If the silver advo- 
cates who understood the subject were honest, they would 
go to the people with the issue stated in its true form. 
To put it bluntly and plainly, so that common people can 
understand, they would say, " Our purpose is to adopt a 
silver standard." Every advanced civilized nation has 
abandoned silver as a standard, because it has been tried 
and found wanting in that essential of a standard, fixity 
of value. In commerce it has been found to have the 
same fault that rubber has for tapelines — too elastic, too 
uncertain. The South and the West have been clamorous 
for a foreign market for their products. They will find 
out that they will have to come to the hated gold standard 
in those markets, whatever this government may do. 

The largest experience and most advanced thought have 
decided that there is no other standard. Our money will 
be put on the scales and weighed, and will be received at 
just its bullion value, not a farthing more. Congress is 
powerless to decree it otherwise. So far as the outside 
world is concerned, we can gain nothing out of free-silver 
coinage. The scales will detect and throw out every false 
estimate and mark we may put upon silver. We shall 
step down from our proud position as one of the foremost 
nations of the globe. Upon ourselves the blow will be 
felt most severely. The first to feel its effect will be the 
laboring man. None will escape. To vote for compulsory 
free coinage is to vote for financial chaos, with all the 
losses and suffering involved in that condition of things. 

A word of exhortation to my countrymen. Ponder long 



THE REAL VALUE OF COIN 305 

and deeply before you take tins wild leap into financial 
chaos. A lifetime of regrets will not atone for such a 
mistake. Don't think for an instant that it is a matter of 
small moment how you vote. The spark that flies into the 
magazine is small, but the destructive explosion is tre- 
mendous. Dallying with silver for twenty-three years 
has brought us to the brink of ruin. 

The Bland law compelling the coinage of silver was the 
entering wedge of all our silver troubles. We have gone 
too far on that road already. It is time to retrace our 
steps and take our stand upon firm ground, where all the 
substantial interests of the civilized world stand to-day. 
The Pope's bull against the comet was a more defensible 
proceeding than the task the free-silver advocates have 
undertaken, for the reason that if the bull did no good 
it did no harm. Who will undertake to estimate the 
damage that will be done if these misguided men succeed 
in placing this country on a silver basis, unsettling all 
values in this vast country, and taking it out of the ranks 
of the foremost nations of the world ? 

N"ew York, 1896. 
20 



OPINION m CASE OF JOHN MOST THE 
ANAECHIST 

The men who framed the Penal Code of the State of 
New York undertook to specify all the crimes kno^vn 
to the law, to state their character, whether felonies or 
misdemeanors, and to provide a penalty in each class of 
crimes by naming a minimum and maximum penalty in 
most cases. The attempt to thus codify the criminal law 
was declared by many able jurists an impossible under- 
taking. It was argued that the system of laws called the 
common law was the accumulated wisdom of ages ; that it 
was flexible and able to adapt itself to every new manifes- 
tation of crime that might appear, keeping within the 
spirit of established principles of justice, but always able 
to cope with any form of crime that might develop. That 
there was great force to this objection was felt by the 
codifiers and by all jurists. They knew the infirmity of 
language and the fallibility of the human intellect in 
undertaking to define in precise terms every crime. On 
the other hand, the common law of crimes was in many re- 
spects overgrown with a multitude of precedents and de- 
cisions, and its roots ran back through so many centuries 
of time that it was only to be learned by wading through 
a mass of books so great that there was much difficulty in 
some cases in determining what was the common law. 
After framing 674 sections of the Penal Code, specifying 
crimes and punishments as completely and fully as the 



CASE OF JOHN MOST THE ANARCHIST 307 

codifiers were able to state them, they framed the 675th 
section, which contains these words : 

" A person who wilfully and wrongfully commits any 
act which seriously injures the person or property of an- 
other, or which seriously disturbs or endangers the public 
peace or health, or which openly outrages public decency, 
for which no other punishment is expressly prescribed by 
this code, is guilty of a misdemeanor." 

The plain and obvious intent of this was to leave in 
the code a little of the flexibility of the common law to 
meet cases which they had failed to specify in the preced- 
ing sections. That the words of this part of the section are 
general is just what might be expected from the nature of 
the case. The purpose of the section is to try offenders for 
something not " expressly prescribed by this code." If 
the offence was one expressly prescribed by the code, then 
clearly the offender must be tried under the section pre- 
scribing it. It is ordy offences not prescribed in the code 
that can be tried under this section. This section is the 
legislative mandate and warrant for courts to look out- 
side of all the other sections of the code to discover 
offences not specified in the code. Otherwise the section 
is meaningless. It is fair to presume that the legislature 
thought that crimes would crop up that would " seriously 
injure the person or property of another," or " seriously 
disturb or endanger the public peace," or " openly out- 
rage public decency," that were not mentioned in the 
body of the code, and so this commission was issued to 
the courts to explore such new fields of crime as they may 
appear from time to time. 

We are, therefore, brought face to face with the ques- 
tion whether the acts charged in the information in this 



308 CASE OP JOHN MOST THE ANARCHIST 

case are criminal acts within the spirit and intent of this 
section. That the section is general in its words and not 
specific was a necessity of the purpose of this enactment. 
That the crimes that come within the range of this law 
are comparatively new and novel to the law is to be ex- 
pected. If it were otherwise, they would have been speci- 
fied in the body of the code. The acts that might be com- 
mitted to produce the results condemned by the section 
were not common acts then generally known to criminal 
laws. If the conditions of '^ injuries to persons or prop- 
erty," or " serious disturbance and danger to the public 
peace," or " openly outrage of public decency," are found 
to exist, it then becomes the duty of courts to find the 
author of those conditions and punish him as the law 
directs. 

We hold that the teachings of the doctrine of anarchy 
" seriously disturb or endanger the public peace," and 
also " openly outrage public decency." To give this con- 
struction to the law in no way abridges the liberty of con- 
science in matters of religion, nor the freedom of speech 
on all questions of government or of social life, nor does 
it in any way trespass upon the proper freedom of the 
press. The point and pith of the offence of anarchists is 
that they teach the doctrine that the pistol, the dagger, 
and dynamite may be used to destroy rulers. The teach- 
ing of such horrid methods of reaching an end is the 
offence. It is poor satisfaction when one of their dupes 
has consummated the results of their teaching to catch 
him and visit upon him the consequences of his acts. The 
evil is untouched if we stop there. In this class of cases 
the courts and the public have too long overlooked tlie 
fact that crimes and offences are committed by written 
or spoken words. We have been punishing offenders in 



CASE OF JOHN MOST THE ANARCHIST 309 

other lilies for words spoken and written without waiting 
for an overt act of injury to persons or property. The 
press is restrained by the law of libel from the too free 
use of words. Individuals can be punished for words 
spoken or written, even though no overt act of physical 
injury follow. It is the power of words that is the potent 
force to commit crimes and offences in certain cases. No 
more striking illustration of the criminal power of words 
could be given, if we are to believe the murderer of our 
late President, than that event presents. The assassin 
declares that he was instigated and stimulated to consum- 
mate his foul deed by the teachings of Emma Goldman. 
He is now awaiting execution for the crime, while she is 
still at large in fancied security. A person may advocate 
any change of our government by lawful and peaceful 
means, or may criticise the conduct of its affairs, and get 
as many people to agree with him as he can, so long as he 
does not advocate the commission of crime as the means 
through which he is to attain his end. If he advocates 
stealthy crime as the means of reaching his end, he by that 
act commits a crime for which he can be punished. The 
distinction we have tried to point out has been too long 
overlooked. 

If our conclusions are sound, it is the teachers of the 
doctrine who can and ought to be punished. It is not 
necessary to trace and establish the connection between 
the teaching of anarchy and a particular crime of an overt 
nature. 

It is a strange spectacle in this age for a great nation 
to stand mute and paralyzed in the presence of teachers 
of crimes that are advocated only for the purpose of de- 
stroying such nation, and for it to have no power to defend 
against such internal enemies. We do not believe the 



810 CASE OF JOHN MOST THE ANARCHIST 

arm of the law is too short to reach those offenders against 
the life of the nation or too paralyzed to deal with them. 
The liberty of conscience, the freedom of speech, the free- 
dom of the press, do not need such concessions to save to 
the fullest extent unimpaired those sacred rights of a free 
people. 

In the case at bar every fact stated in the information 
was conceded on the trial. The article published in the 
newspaper called the " Freiheit," annexed to the informa- 
tion, was printed in the German language, but the transla- 
tion of it was admitted by the defendant to be correct. 
It was also admitted that the paper was published and 
circulated in the city and county of New York, and that 
on the 7th day of September, 1901, the date of the issue 
containing the article in question, the defendant was the 
publisher of said newspaper; that the article was pub- 
lished and circulated before the assault on the late Presi- 
dent of the United States. It was contended that the 
defendant was not the author of said article ; that the 
same was written and published by one Carl Heinzen about 
fifty years ago, and was reprinted by the defendant in 
the "Freiheit" on March 14, 1885; that the defendant, 
John Most, as soon as he learned of the assault upon our 
late President, made all possible efforts to withdraw the 
newspaper containing the article in question from circula- 
tion; that with the exception of those which had been 
sent through the mail and delivered to the International 
News Company, no more copies had been sold, so far as 
known to the defendant. It was also admitted that the 
copy of said newspaper attached to the information was 
purchased by the complainant from the International 
News Company. 

The article is the leading one on the editorial page 



CASE OF JOHN MOST THE ANARCHIST 311 

of the paper, and it is headed " Murder vs. Murder," in 
display type. The article begins : " As Heinzen said 
nearly fifty years ago (this is true even to-day), there are 
various technical expressions for the important manipula- 
tion by which one hmnan being destroys the life of an- 
other. These expressions are, * To kill, to destroy, murder, 
to shoot, to slay, to poison, to put out of the world, de- 
port to Cayenne, get out of the way, to behead, to strangle, 
to cut down, to be killed by the sword, to execute by 
shooting, to imprison for life, to execute, etc' The means, 
the pretext, and the reasons are various, but the purpose 
is always the same — the destruction of a life that is hos- 
tile or a hindrance." " It would be a senseless weakness 
to disguise by sentimental lamentations the frightful fact 
that the best means of historical development has been 
miirder, and, in fact, murder in the most colossal shape; 
and this is still true." " Let murder be our study — mur- 
der in every form. In this one word lies more humanity 
than in all our theories." '* The despots are outlawed ; 
they are in human society what the tiger is among anmials; 
to spare them is a crime. As despots permit themselves 
everything, betrayal, poison, murder, etc., in the same 
way all this is to be employed against them. Yes ; crime 
directed against them is not only right, but it is the duty 
of every one who has an opportunity to commit it, and it 
would be a glory to him if it was successful. Only towards 
mankind is there a moral of consideration; the moral 
toward beasts is destruction." " Murder as a necessary 
defence is not only permissible, but it is sometimes a duty 
towards society when it is directed against a professional 
murderer." " The way of humanity leads over the sum- 
mit of barbarism. This is just the law of necessity dic- 
tated by reaction. We cannot get around it, as we do not 



312 CASE OF JOHN MOST THE ANARCHIST 

wish to renounce the future. If we wish to design we 
must also wish the means; if we wish the life of the 
peoples we must wish for the death of their enemies; if 
we wish for humanity we must wish for murder," " It 
would be quite a new war policy if in the circus the pan- 
ther permitted the buffalo to prescribe to him that he 
should defend himself w4th horns against horns, and that 
he should not immediately spring upon his back from 
behind. The buffalo militarism request that the reyolu- 
tionists disarm to the skin, should march openly against 
him after declaration of war in optimia forma militari, 
with cannons and ammunition wagons, with cayalry and 
infantry, after the people had been disarmed. We do 
not suffer from such weakness; we say murder for mur- 
derers; saye humanity through blood and iron, poison and 
dynamite." 

The aboye are a few extracts from the translation of 
the article in question. It is impossible to read the whole 
article ^^•ithout deducing from it the doctrine that all rulers 
are enemies of mankind, and are to be hunted and de- 
stroyed through " blood and iron, poison and dynamite." 
It is no answer to the eyil and criminal nature of this 
article to claim that it was written for the purpose of de- 
stroying crowned heads. It inculcates and enforces the 
idea that murder is the proper remedy to be applied 
against rulers. The fact that it was published fifty years 
ago and republished about fifteen years ago only empha- 
sizes and giyes added point to the criminality of re- 
publishing it at any time. It shows a deliberate intent to 
inculcate and promulgate the doctrine of the article. This 
we hold to be a criminal act. It is not necessary to trace 
any connection in this article with the assassination of the 
late President. The offence here, in the eye of the law, is 



CASE OF JOHN MOST THE ANARCHIST 313 

precisely the same as if that event had never occurred. 
The murder of the President onlv serves to illustrate and 
illimiinate the enormitv of the crime of the defendant in 
teaching his diabolical doctrines. 

Such articles and doctrines have no proper place in 
this free country. They stimulate the worst possible politi- 
cal ideas and passions, and, carried to their logical con- 
clusion, would destroy the government. It was said by 
a distinguished English judge, in the celebrated Somerset 
slave case, that " Xo slave can breathe the free air of 
England." It would be well if the laws of this country- 
were such that it could be said truthfullv that no anarchist 
can breathe the free air of America. 

Xew York, October, 1901. 



% 

^ 



LETTERS OF JUDGES AND OTHERS, 1861 



Albion, May 22, 1861. 

Learning that Mr. E. B. Hinsdale, of Le Roy, is about 
to remove to J^ew York, it gives me great pleasure to 
recommend him to the favorable notice of the bench, the 
bar, and the public generally, of that city. I have been 
acquainted with Mr. Hinsdale since I have had a seat on 
the bench of this district. As a lawyer he is well read and 
has attained a good standing in the profession, and I 
believe him to be a gentleman of good character and 
in all respects entitled to the respect and confidence of 
the community. 

Noah Davis, Jr., 

Justice Supreme Court. 



Buffalo, May 22, 1861. 

I fully concur in the above and cheerfully commend 
Mr. Hinsdale to the favorable consideration and confidence 
of any who may have occasion for business relations with 
him. 

James G. Hoyt, 

Justice Supreme Court. 



Warsaw, May 22, 1861. 

Having been informed that E. B. Hinsdale, Esq., of 
Le Roy, contemplates removing to the city of New York 
with a view to the practice of the law, I am happy to say 
that I have been well acquainted with him for several 
years; that he has tried several cases before me as a ref- 
eree ; that I regard him as a good lawyer and a gentleman 
of high standing and character. His habits are good in 
every respect. I have no doubt, from my knowledge of his 
legal abilities and attainments and industrious habits, that 
he will succeed well in the legal profession, and I cordially 
recommend him to the confidence and patronage of the 
profession and the public generally. 

H. L. Comstock, 
County Judge of Wyoming County. 



Eochester, May 23, 1861. 

The bearer of this, Elizur B. Hinsdale, Esq., attorney 
and counsellor-at-law, now of Le Roy, Genesee County, 
N. Y., is well known to me. I am informed that it is 
his purpose to remove to the city of New York and enter 
into the practice of his profession there. He deserves 
success, and I believe will command it. He is a man of 
intelligence and honor, a good lawyer, of industrious 
habits, and worthy of the confidence of the community 
where he may reside. 

In fine, he is a gentleman whom a cautious man may 
commend in highest terms without reserve, or fear of 
reproach. 

John H. Martindale, 

Attorney and Counsellor-at-law. 



Eochester, May 23, 1861. 

I take great pleasure in stating that I have been 
acquainted with Elizur B. Hinsdale, Esq., formerly of 
Le Eoy, Genesee County, for several years, and that he 
is a gentleman of high respectability and undoubted honor 
and integrity. 

Mr. Hinsdale is about removing to ISTew York to prac- 
tise his profession, and I cheerfully recommend him to 
the favorable consideration of our brethren of the bar as 
worthy of the fullest confidence. 

Jno. C. Chumasevo, 

Monroe County Judge. 



Rochester, May 23, 1861. 

I have met E. B. Hinsdale, Esq., frequently within the 
last four or five years, and have had opportunities to be- 
come considerably acquainted with him. I regard him 
as a young man of good character and standing, and of 
excellent abilities and promise as a lawyer. My best 
wishes "vdll attend him wherever he may pursue the prac- 
tice of his profession. 

T. R. Strong, 
Justice of the Supreme Court. 

21 



Bank of Genesee, Bataviaj May 23, 1861. 

I have been acquainted with Mr. E. B. Hinsdale from 
his boyhood, and take pleasure in commending him to the 
confidence of any person desiring his services. I have no 
doubt he "udll prove himself worthy of any trust that may 
be confided in him, and will diligently and faithfully 
attend to any business committed to his care. 

H. U. Howard, 

President. 



Batavia, May 25, 1861. 

I have this moment been informed that Elizur B. Hins- 
dale, Esq., of Le Roj, in this county, contemplates an early 
removal to JsTew York to engage in professional business. 
I take great pleasure in recommending Mr. Hinsdale to 
the favorable consideration of the bench and bar in that 
city. Mr. Hinsdale is a young man of good business habits, 
and has made good proficiency in his profession. I have 
been acquainted with him from his first entering the pro- 
fession, and recommend him as an industrious and thor- 
ough business lawyer of irreproachable character, and a 
gentleman in his manners, and possessing a high order 
of talents. Mav he be abundantlv successful. 

Very respectfully, 

Moses Taggart, 

County Judge of said County and former 

Justice Supreme Court. 



i 



Genesee County Bank, Le Eoy, May 28, 1861. 

For sixteen years I have known E. B. Hinsdale, Esq. 
Have frequently met him socially, and had numerous 
business transactions with him, and know him to be a 
pleasant, reliable friend, a man of undoubted integrity, 
and believe him to be the best lawyer of our county. In 
the transaction of law business he is prompt, energetic, 
and successful. 

Kespectfully, 

S. T. Howard, 

Cashier. 



Jamestown, May 31, 1861. 

. I have been acquainted with Mr. E. B. Hinsdale, a 
member of the Genesee bar, for several years, and from 
the commencement of his practice. He is a young gentle- 
man of good abilities and well read in his profession. He 
possesses great industry and perseverance, as has been 
often shown by his briefs and arguments, and I do not 
hesitate in commending him to the confidence of all who 
may make his acquaintance. He is, I understand, about 
to commence business in the city of New York. He is 
at liberty to show this to the judges, the profession, and 
others in that city. 

Kespectfully, 

E. P. Marvin, 
Presiding Justice Supreme Court, Eighth District. 



31^.77-2 



